V 


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EXTERIOR  OF  KING’S  CHAPEL,  Dec.  15,  1886. 


THE  COMMEMORATION 


BY 

KING’S  CHAPEL,  BOSTON, 

OF  THE 

Completion  of  Ctoo  ^unoreo  gears 

SINCE  ITS  FOUNDATION, 


On  Wednesday,  December  15,  1886. 


ALSO 

THREE  HISTORICAL  SERMONS. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BOSTON: 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 
1887. 


©mbcrsttjr  $rcss: 

John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


73, 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


The  decorations  employed  in  the  celebration  are  in  part 
reproduced  in  the  illustrations  of  this  volume.  They  are  partly 
taken  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Foote’s  “ Annals  of  King’s  Chapel;” 
while  for  the  portraits  the  Committee  are  also  indebted  to  the 
courtesy  of  Messrs.  Ticknor  and  Company,  publishers  of  the 
“ Memorial  History  of  Boston ; ” to  the  owners  of  those  which 
have  been  specially  photographed  for  this  volume ; and  to 
Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin,  and  Company,  and  to  Mr.  Justin 
Winsor,  publishers  and  editor  of  the  “ Narrative  and  Critical 
History  of  America,”  for  permission  to  use  that  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Dummer  from  the  fifth  volume  of  that  work.  The 
drawing  of  the  exterior  arrangement  of  flags  is  made  by  Mr.  J. 
Templeman  Coolidge,  3d,  for  this  volume.  The  cut  on  page  2, 
representing  the  church  when  it  was  approached  by  several  steps, 
before  Tremont  Street  had  been  filled  in  to  a uniform  level,  and 
before  the  balustrade  on  the  roof  had  been  removed,  is  enlarged 
from  one  by  Abel  Bowen  about  1833.  The  die  on  the  cover 
is  copied  from  one  impressed  on  ‘‘Bridgman’s  King’s  Chapel 
Epitaphs,”  and  is  taken  from  a picture  painted  for  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Greenwood  about  1830.  It  shows  not  only  the  church  but  the 
burial-ground  as  it  then  appeared,  before  a desecrating  hand  had 
removed  the  gravestones  from  the  graves  to  which  they  belonged. 


Boston,  March,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


Prcltmtnatg  proctetungs. 

PAGE 

Action  of  the  Proprietors  of  King’s  Chapel  ...  3 

Committee  appointed  by  the  Wardens  and  Vestry 

of  King’s  Chapel 3 

Report  of  Committee 4 

Committees  appointed 6 

Invitations  and  Arrangements 6 

historical  Sermons. 

Rev.  Henry  Wilder  Foote,  preached  Dec.  5,  1886  . 11 

„ „ „ „ preached  Dec.  12,  1886  . 34 

(Eommemoratibe  Setbtees. 

Programme 53 

Commemorative  Services 69 

Address  of  Welcome,  by  William  Minot,  Esq.  ...  75 

Religious  Services 76 


VI 


CONTENTS, 


PAGB 


Address  of  the  Minister 80 

„ „ Governor  Robinson 89 

„ „ Rev.  George  Edward  Ellis,  D.D.,  LL.D.  96 

„ „ Rev.  George  A.  Gordon 105 

„ „ President  Charles  William  Eliot,  LL.D.  109 

„ „ Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  D.D 112 

„ „ Rev.  John  Hopkins  Morison,  D.D.  . . . 122 

Address  and  Poem  by  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  D.D.  128 
Poem  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  M.D.,  LL.D.  D.C.L.  131 


Address  of  Prof.  Andrew  Preston  Peabody,  D.D.,  LL.D.  134 
Address  of  Prof.  Francis  Greenwood  Peabody  . . 138 


Correspontience. 

From  Official  Persons  and  other  Invited  Guests  . 145 


From  Descendants  of  the  Church 148 

From  Clergymen 154 


Closing  Sermon. 

Rev.  Henry  Wilder  Foote,  preached  Dec.  19,  1886  . 167 


Index 


i93 


ILLUSTRATIONS, 


PAGE 

Exterior  of  the  Church,  1886 Frontispiece 

King’s  Chapel  in  1833 2 

Card  of  Invitation . 6 

Royal  Arms 7 

Interior  of  the  Church,  1886 8 

Earliest  King’s  Chapel,  1687 53 

First  Page  of  the  Earliest  Record  Book  ....  54 

Pulpit,  1717 55 

Autograph  of  Rev.  Robert  Ratcliffe 63 

Facsimile  of  Flags  in  Exterior  Decoration  ...  69 

Escutcheons  used  in  the  Decoration 71 

Portrait  of  Governor  Joseph  Dudley 86 

„ „ Mrs.  Rebecca  (Tyng)  Dudley  ....  98 

„ „ Governor  William  Burnet no 

„ „ Governor  Jonathan  Belcher  . . . . 122 

„ „ Lieut.-Governor  William  Dummer  . . 130 

„ „ Governor  Thomas  Pownall 146 

„ „ Governor  Thomas  Hutchinson  ....  158 

„ „ Peter  Faneuil,  Esquire 170 

„ „ Rev.  James  Freeman 182 


PRELIMINARY  PROCEEDINGS. 


I 


KING’S  CHAPEL  IN  1833. 


PRELIMINARY  PROCEEDINGS. 


T the  annual  meeting  of  the  Proprietors  of  King’s 


Chapel  in  Boston,  held  April  26,  1886,  the  Senior 
Warden,  Arthur  T.  Lyman,  Esq.,  laid  before  the  meeting 
a communication  from  the  Minister  in  relation  to  having 
appropriate  notice  taken  of  the  15th  June,  as  the  two 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  this  church, 
by  putting  up  a memorial  thereof,  or  otherwise.  The 
subject  was  referred  to  the  Wardens  and  Vestry,  with 
full  powers. 

At  a meeting  of  the  Wardens  and  Vestry,  May  2, 
1886,  the  following  gentlemen  were  appointed  a Com- 
mittee to  take  action  in  regard  to  such  anniversary: 

William  Perkins.  Greely  S.  Curtis. 

John  Revere.  Patrick  T.  Jackson. 

George  Higginson.  J.  Randolph  Coolidge,  Jr. 

This  Committee  subsequently  reported,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Wardens  and  Vestry,  held  Nov.  18,  1886,  as 
follows  : — 


4 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


REPORT. 

The  Wardens  and  Vestry  having  appointed  a committee 
to  report  to  them  a plan  for  the  proper  Commemoration 
of  the  Two  Hundredth  Year  of  Church  Life  of  King’s 
Chapel,  — which  was  founded  June  15,  1686,  and  cele- 
brated its  first  communion  service  on  the  second  Sabbath 
of  August,  1686,  — the  following  is  proposed  : — 

It  having  been  impracticable  in  the  midsummer  season 
of  general  dispersion  to  gather  our  whole  congregation  for 
a service  which  is  of  universal  interest  to  them,  it  was 
thought  best  to  defer  the  Commemoration  until  this  time. 
It  is  now  recommended  that  Wednesday,  December  15,  be 
fixed  as  the  day  for  such  a service,  and  that  these  arrange- 
ments be  made  for  its  fit  observance  : — 

1.  A committee  of  the  Vestry,  increased  by  a number 
of  young  and  active  members  of  the  congregation,  to  carry 
out  the  necessary  details. 

2.  Invitations  to  be  sent  to  all  persons  now  or  formerly 
connected  with  the  church,  so  far  as  they  can  be  ascer- 
tained ; to  ministers  of  the  older  churches  and  leading  per- 
sons in  the  city  ; and  to  such  others  as  may  be  deemed  best. 

3.  The  service  to  consist  of  special  music  by  a large 
choir,  and  of  addresses  by  the  following  persons  : — 

The  Governor,  as  the  successor  of  eight  Royal  Gover- 
nors who  worshipped  here ; 

The  following  persons  who  were  born  into  and  brought 
up  in  King’s  Chapel,  namely  : — 

The  President  of  Harvard  College; 

Rev.  Dr.  James  Freeman  Clarke; 

Rev.  Francis  Greenwood  Peabody; 

Rev.  Dr.  Farley,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ; 

Rev.  Dr.  Thayer,  of  Newport,  R.  I. ; and  others ; 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  5 

Members  of  the  present  congregation ; as  Rev.  Dr. 
Peabody  and  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes; 

The  Minister  of  the  Old  South  Church,  in  remem- 
brance of  its  special  connection  with  our  history  ; 

A Representative  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  of 
which  King’s  Chapel  was  the  mother-church  in  New 
England. 

4.  It  is  also  recommended  that  some  social  meeting 
for  the  evening  of  the  same  day  be  arranged  for,  if 
practicable. 

5.  To  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  this  historic 
occasion,  it  is  recommended  that  a design  be  obtained, 
and  a bronze  or  marble  tablet  or  monument  placed  in  the 
church,  marking  the  special  connection  of  King’s  Chapel 
with  the  early  history  of  this  country,  and  recording  some 
of  the  names  of  those  associated  with  the  parish  in  its 
pre-Revolutionary  history. 

For  the  Committee. 

William  Perkins, 

Chairman. 

The  Wardens  and  Vestry  accordingly 

“ Voted , That  Rev.  Henry  W.  Foote  be  added  to  the 
original  Committee  ; and  that  the  Committee  be  author- 
ized to  increase  their  number  to  sixteen  by  the  addition  of 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  parish,  — the  Committee  so 
enlarged  to  be  empowered  to  make  all  the  arrangements 
necessary  for  the  proper  celebration,  on  Wednesday  the 
fifteenth  day  of  December,  on  the  completion  of  two 
hundred  years  since  the  foundation  of  this  parish  ; and 
that  they  are  also  authorized,  if  deemed  expedient,  to  pre- 
pare a Memorial  Volume,  containing  the  addresses  made 
at  the  celebration,  and  other  historic  matters  connected 
therewith.” 


6 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


The  Committee  proceeded  accordingly  to  add  to  their 
number  the  following  gentlemen: 


J.  Templeman  Coolidge,  3d. 
Edward  S.  Grew. 

Thomas  B.  Hall. 

Horace  A.  Lamb. 

A.  Lawrence  Lowell. 

They  also  appointed  the 
namely : — 


Francis  C.  Lowell. 
George  R.  Minot. 

Thomas  Minns. 

Charles  E.  Sampson. 
Roger  Wolcott. 

following  Sub-Committees, 


On  Speakers  and  Order  of  Exercises. 

Henry  W.  Foote.  Greely  S.  Curtis. 

A.  Lawrence  Lowell. 

On  Music  and  Decorations. 

J.  Randolph  Coolidge,  Jr.  Greely  S.  Curtis. 

J.  Templeman  Coolidge,  3d.  Horace  A.  Lamb. 

George  R.  Minot. 

On  Invitations , Tickets , and  Printing. 

Thomas  B.  Hall.  Thomas  Minns. 

Francis  C.  Lowell.  Roger  Wolcott. 

Henry  W.  Foote. 

On  Expenses. 

George  Higginson.  Edward  S.  Grew. 

Charles  E.  Sampson. 

On  Memorial  Volume. 

Henry  W.  Foote.  Patrick  T.  Jackson. 

Thomas  Minns. 

Invitations  to  the  Commemoration  were  extended  to 
a large  number  of  ministers  of  the  older  churches  in 
Massachusetts  of  different  denominations  ; to  ministers  of 
churches  deriving  their  descent  from  King’s  Chapel  before 


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TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


7 


the  American  Revolution,  and  to  other  clergymen  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Massachusetts  and  else- 
where ; to  various  bishops  and  ministers,  Protestant  and 
Roman  Catholic  ; to  the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor, 
and  other  officials  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  ; 
to  the  Mayor  of  Boston,  and  many  other  prominent  citi- 
zens ; to  the  Right  Reverend  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London, 
and,  as  far  as  they  could  be  ascertained,  to  representatives 
in  this  generation  of  families  formerly  belonging  to  the 
parish,  and  to  others  who  themselves  have  been  at  any 
time  connected  with  it. 

Admission  to  the  church  was  necessarily  by  ticket  only ; 
and  it  was  filled  to  its  fullest  capacity  through  the  whole 
of  the  services. 


(Formerly  hung  over  the  door  of  the 
Province  House.) 


INTERIOR  OF  KING’S  CHAPEL,  Dec.  15,  1886. 


HISTORICAL  SERMONS 


ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE 


Completion  of  Ctoo  ^unDreo  pearo 


SINCE  THE  FOUNDATION  OF 

KING’S  CHAPEL.  BOSTON. 


BY  REV.  HENRY  WILDER  FOOTE. 


HISTORICAL  SERMONS. 


I 


Thus  saith  the  Lord  God:  I will  also  take  of  the  highest 

BRANCH  OF  THE  HIGH  CEDAR,  AND  WILL  SET  IT  ; I WILL  CROP  OFF 
FROM  THE  TOP  OF  HIS  YOUNG  TWIGS  A TENDER  ONE,  AND  WILL 
PLANT  IT  UPON  AN  HIGH  MOUNTAIN  AND  EMINENT:  In  THE  MOUN- 
TAIN OF  THE  HEIGHT  OF  ISRAEL  WILL  I PLANT  IT;  IT  SHALL  BRING 
FORTH  BOUGHS,  AND  BEAR  FRUIT,  AND  BE  A GOODLY  CEDAR.  — 
Ezekiel , xvii.  22,  23. 


N Wednesday,  the  15th  of  this  month,  we  shall 


mark  with  fitting  celebration  the  fact  that  this 
is  the  two  hundredth  year  since  the  beginning  of 
this  church.  It  is  not,  indeed,  the  day  itself  in  the 
year;  for  the  proper  foundation  time  of  the  church 
fell  in  that  fair  season  of  the  twelvemonth  when,  in 
1686,  men  found  Boston  a pleasant  place  by  the 
water-side  to  abide  in,  — as  now  they  find  it  a place 
to  flee  from ; as  when  the  First  Church,  the 
mother  of  all  the  religious  life  of  this  good  city, 
six  years  ago  kept  its  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  an- 
niversary, its  minister  had  to  say : “ We  can  plead 
as  apologies  for  our  delay  only  those  habits  of  mod- 
ern life,  even  in  our  Northern  city,  which  make  a 
midsummer  gathering  all  but  impossible.”  There 


12 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


are,  indeed,  several  birthdays  for  us  in  that  year 
1686,  — according  as  we  mark  the  day  when  the  first 
religious  service  of  the  infant  congregation  was  held, 
May  20;  or  that  of  the  first  meeting  for  organiza- 
tion, June  1 5 ; or  July  4,  when  that  organization  was 
completed,  by  a strange  coincidence  anticipating  the 
birthday  of  America;  or  the  2d  of  August,  which 
I like  best  to  think  of  as  the  true  foundation  day 
of  the  church,  the  day  when  the  first  celebration 
of  the  Lord’s  Supper  was  held,  according  to  the 
reverend  usage  which  was  preparing  a home  for 
itself  here  among  the  Puritan  community. 

The  great  festival  of  our  College  has  lately  re- 
minded us  of  the  plain  yet  heroic  beginnings  01ft  of 
which  New  England  sprang.  The  history  of  the 
beginnings  of  this  ancient  church  brings  to  remem- 
brance another  chapter  of  the  annals  of  our  country, 
equally  worthy  to  be  kept  from  oblivion,  it  seems  to 
me,  and  which  interweaves,  like  a thread  of  gold  in 
cloth  of  sober  russet,  elements  of  light  and  color 
and  warmth  in  the  narrative  which  had  lonsr  been  a 
stranger  to  them,  as  it  brings  the  great  power  and 
presence  of  England,  our  mother-country,  into  visible 
authority  in  this  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

The  recent  years  have  been  thickly  studded  with 
commemorations  of  the  foundation  of  successive 
churches  and  towns  in  this  old  commonwealth, 
which  filled  the  eventful  years  from  1620  to  1640. 
In  them  all,  it  is  always  the  Puritan  idea  and  the 
Puritan  founders  that  are  brought  into  fresh  and 
deserved  honor.  King’s  Chapel  stands  alone  in  that 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 3 

first  century,  in  setting  forth  another  side  of  the 
story,  — a side  historical  and  of  deep  religious  sig- 
nificance, as  well  as  most  picturesque  in  its  con- 
trasts. Yet  we  shall  best  be  able  to  understand 
this  if  we  try  first  of  all  to  put  ourselves  into  under- 
standing and  sympathetic  relations  with  the  condi- 
tions of  the  community  where  our  church  planted 
itself  two  centuries  ago. 

The  great  corner-stone  on  which  the  New  Eng- 
land polity  rested,  — and  still  rests,  — is  the  thought 
that  God  rules . Not  only  that  He  has  ruled  in  the 
past,  that  He  made  the  world,  or  that  He  saved  the 
world,  but  that  He  is  so  intensely  present  that  all 
things  in  the  comparison  with  Him  verily  cease  to 
exist.  It  is  the  faith  that  He  is  the  God  of  the 
moral  world  not  less  than  of  the  physical  world,  a 
legislator  of  whom  it  is  not  less  true  that  His  laws 
can  be  understood  and  applied  by  men  than  it  is 
that  the  forces  of  Nature  silently  do  His  will, — 
with  the  difference  that  His  children  can  serve 
Him  intelligently,  “hearkening  unto  the  voice  of 
His  word.”  In  this  faith,  with  its  double  conse- 
quence concerning  the  individual  and  concerning 
government,  lies  wrapped  up  the  history  of  New 
England,  — that  is  to  say,  really,  the  history  of 
America.  It  may  fitly  be  called  a religious  history; 
it  is  a story  possessed  by  the  conviction  of  the 
Ruling  God.  It  stands  before  posterity  to  speak 
for  itself  by  the  type  of  character  which  it  moulded, 
by  the  strength  of  faith  through  which  it  wrought, 
by  its  works  for  men  and  for  God. 


14  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

Those  fathers  of  New  England  justify  the  claim 
which  is  made  for  them  on  our  pride  and  loyalty, 
by  the  great  ideas  which  they  left  to  their  posterity 
as  seed-grain  for  the  world’s  great  harvest  of  faith 
and  hope.  In  the  days  when  the  first  James  and 
Charles  were  harrying  them  out  of  England,  they 
sought  beyond  the  sea  to  embody  their  mighty  vision, 
— the  ideal  of  a Christian  Commonwealth,  in  which 
God  should  be  King  and  Judge;  and  although  they 
erred  in  trying  to  follow  too  literally  the  antique  pat- 
tern, and  could  not  well  see  how  to  gain  the  spirit 
without  literal  copying  of  the  letter,  the  Living 
Spirit  of  the  Living  God  had  descended  mightily 
upon  them  and  possessed  them,  so  that  they  “ builded 
better  than  they  knew.”  Not  caring  to  be  rich,  or 
wise,  or  famous,  if  only  they  might  serve  the  Lord 
with  a pure  and  acceptable  worship,  “ all  these  things 
were  added  unto  them  ” and  to  their  children.  Grand 
and  honored  forms  of  the  past,  they  stand  forth  from 
the  shadows  that  have  closed  around  and  hide  so 
much  from  us,  — the  founders  of  a new  age. 
Quaint-garbed  fathers  of  the  New  England  of  to- 
day, in  doublet  and  cloak,  with  steeple-crowned  hat 
and  solemn  mien,  we  can  easily  seem  to  see  them 
once  more  walking  the  streets  of  the  little  town,  as 
citizens  of  another  country,  “ even  an  heavenly,” 
and  dwellers  in  “ a city  whose  founder  and  builder 
is  God  ” 

Even  their  children  cannot  claim  that  the  Puri- 
tans were  perfect  men ; and  they  themselves  would 
be  farthest  from  claiming  it.  But  they  were  colossal, 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 5 

— not  smooth  men,  but  scarred  and  weather-beaten 
by  great  encounters  with  enemies  seen  and  unseen. 
“Paint  me,”  said  Cromwell  to  Sir  Peter  Lely,  “as  I 
am  ; ” and  the  very  warts  on  that  heroic  face  were 
set  down  on  the  canvas  for  posterity  to  look  upon. 
The  Puritan  can  well  afford  to  be  painted  as  he  was. 
He  who  was  so  severe  with  himself  could  be  very 
risrid  with  others  also.  He  found  his  conscience  a 
hard  master,  — the  penances  it  imposed  often  more 
grievous  than  hair  shirts  or  flagellations ; and  if  his 
conscience  burdened  him,  it  did  not  seem  unfitting 
that  it  should  rule  others  also  with  a rod  of  iron. 
Such  men  as  these  would  have  found  us  difficult  to 
tolerate,  and  we  should  probably  have  shrunk  from 
before  their  terrible  presence. 

Never,  surely,  did  men  take  in  hand  so  bold  a 
work,  — say,  rather,  so  trustful  a work,  — as  did  that 
first  generation  of  Englishmen  here,  of  whom  “ ac- 
cording to  the  flesh  ” our  ancestors,  their  children, 
came.  To  us  what  they  did  looks  so  venerable,  — 
its  success  is  so  vindicated  by  its  issues,  — that  we 
often  fail  to  realize  the  greatness  of  soul,  the  supreme 
faith  in  the  Invisible  God  of  Righteousness,  which 
was  needed  to  go  behind  the  triple  wall  of  form 
and  court  and  established  church,  with  its  ritual 
and  authority,  to  the  wells  of  living  water  in  the 
Scripture  and  to  the  present  help  of  the  Lord  of 
Hosts.  They  aimed  to  build  their  tabernacle  “ in 
all  things  after  the  pattern  showed  them  in  the 
mount;”  and  if  they  sometimes  followed  Moses 
rather  than  Christ,  the  Eternal  Spirit  who  also 


1 6 king’s  chapel,  boston. 

spake  to  Moses  was  able  to  outlast  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  their  dispensation,  and  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  coming  of  the  New. 

It  is  often,  in  these  days,  made  a reproach  to  the 
Puritans  that  they  wanted  none  here  of  any  way  of 
thinking  save  their  own, — as  if  they  had  set  up  to 
be  the  fathers  of  what  Roger  Williams  calls  “soul- 
liberty,”  and  then  had  deserted  their  principle. 
But  they  neither  sought  nor  claimed  nor  desired 
what  is  called  liberty  of  thought,  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word.  They  had  come  hither,  at  the 
cost  of  infinite  peril  and  hardship,  to  escape  from 
earthly  masters,  but  not  at  all  in  order  that  they 
might  be  left  free  to  their  own  devices.  They  sought 
liberty  from  the  earthly  masters  only  that  they  might 
freely  give  up  to  the  Heavenly  their  own  wills, — 
yea,  their  own  minds,  acknowledging  God  as  having 
eminent  domain  over  all.  They  believed  that  they 
had  in  the  Scriptures  such  a revelation  from  Him 
that  they  could  safely  appeal  to  that  infallible  Law 
for  direction  in  the  minutest  particulars  of  life,  and 
in  the  greatest ; nor  was  there  any  diffe*rence  to 
them  between  one  part  and  another  part,  but  all 
were  equally  binding,  — the  regulations  of  Leviticus, 
as  much  as  the  precepts  of  Christ. 

The  world  has  since  attained  a wiser  conception 
than  theirs  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Book; 
we  have  a more  spiritual  insight  into  its  true 
meaning,  and  a better  discrimination  between  its 
various  parts.  But  we  may  well  ask  ourselves  the 
very  searching  question,  whether  we  have  as  living 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 7 

a conviction  of  the  Living  God  present  with  us, 
searching,  knowing,  upholding  us,  as  they  had, — 
whether  we  find  it  as  natural  to  turn  to  Him  for 
light  and  strength  as  they  did.  We  may  deem  them 
illogical,  shutting  up  the  Divine  Being  as  they  did 
within  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Books,  and  yet 
combining  with  this  even  Bibliolatry  such  intense 
faith  in  the  God  who  is  the  Father  of  our  spirits, 
“ God  over  all,  blessed  forever.”  Nevertheless,  this 
they  did;  and  in  bequeathing  to  their  children  this 
supreme  trust,  they  left  us  the  truth  of  truths, 
the  mightiest  of  inspirations  and  powers  whether 
for  our  personal  or  our  national  life.  And  being 
willing  to  submit  themselves  to  this  Divine  code 
of  laws,  in  which  they  believed  that  the  Ruler  of 
the  universe  had  given  them  “ a sufficient  rule  of 
faith  and  practice,”  they  expected  others  who  came 
after  them  to  this  bleak  corner  of  the  world  to 
do  likewise. 

A religion  so  intensely  earnest,  so  severely  simple, 
must  needs  have  fashioned  for  itself  an  outward 
order  quite  other  than  that  of  the  mother-church 
and  the  mother-land  which  these  men  had  left,  — 
shaped  by  it  only  by  reaction.  We  are  in  part 
familiar  with  this  in  the  congregational  order  of 
ritual  to-day,  yet  only  in  a softened  guise,  and  with 
many  adornments  on  which  the  primitive  founders 
would  have  looked  darkly.  What,  then,  was  that 
form  of  worship  which  that  early  generation  of 
Boston  Puritans  had  wrought  out  for  themselves, 
- — not  wholly  like  any  other  ? Let  me  quote  the 


3 


1 8 king’s  chapel,  boston. 

sympathetic  description  of  it  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rufus 
Ellis:  — 

“ The  little  congregation  had  no  need  to  fashion  any 
ritual.  They  found  it  only  too  delicious  to  pray  as  the 
Spirit  gave  them  utterance.  They  will  not  have  even 
the  Bible  read  in  the  course  of  their  worship,  unless  it  is 
expounded,  and  the  truths  brought  into  the  light  by  the 
Divine  blessing  upon  a living  ministry.  They  will  have 
none  of  what  they  called  ‘dumb  reading/ 

“ What  were  styled  ‘ conceived/  or  as  we  say  ex  tempore , 
prayers  had  been  allowed  them  in  their  old  church  only 
grudgingly  and  in  very  stinted  measure.  Here  there  shall 
be  no  other  prayers,  — not  though  it  were  the  Lord’s  Prayer, 
which  had  been  so  misused  as  a pater  noster  and  by  vain 
repetitions.  They  would  have  no  white  surplice  with  Romish 
priests,  but  would  minister  in  the  scholar’s  black  gown  of 
Geneva.  It  seemed  to  them  a mere  formality,  and  too 
much  like  the  genuflections  of  the  old  superstition,  to 
bow  the  head  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  though  none  could 
exceed  them  in  their  reverence  for  that  Holy  One.  Like 
the  early  disciples,  they  would  gather  about  the  sacramental 
table  rather  than  kneel  about  the  altar,  lest  haply  men 
should  say,  ‘ they  worship  the  bread  and  the  wine.’  They 
will  have  no  funeral  prayers,  but  will  bear  their  dead  to  the 
last  resting-place  and  lay  them  away  in  touching  silence, 
lest  they  should  be  thought  to  pray  for  the  departed  spirit 
and  say  masses  in  the  ancient  manner.  They  will  not  only 
lay  aside  the  marriage  ring  as  heathenish,  but  by  a strange 
revulsion  they  will  have  marriage  a civil  service,  to  be  per- 
formed, not  by  the  minister,  but  by  a magistrate.  They 
cannot  quite  refuse  to  sing,  — but  there  shall  be  no  instru- 
ment save  the  human  voice,  and  such  rough  psalmody  as 
was  supplied  to  the  Puritans  of  Amsterdam  by  Henry 
Ainsworth  ; their  tunes,  some  ten  in  number,  oftenest 
York,  Hackney,  Windsor,  St.  Mary,  and  St.  Martyn’s.” 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


19 


Such  was  the  type  of  worship  which  the  God- 
fearing Puritans  had  elaborated  in  this  far  corner  of 
the  world.  Meantime,  great  events  had  swept  over 
the  Old  World  which  they  had  left.  Charles  I.  had 
died  upon  the  block,  to  answer  for  the  oppressions 
which  drove  them  forth.  The  Commonwealth  of 
England  had  risen  and  fallen.  The  son  of  Charles 
Stuart  was  back  upon  the  throne,  with  no  love  in 
his  heart  for  the  men  in  England  or  here  who  had 
done  that  work  upon  his  father. 

Meantime,  the  generation  had  gone  of  those  who 
knew  the  Old  England* — Winthrop,  Thomas  Dud- 
ley, Wilson,  Cotton,  — some  of  the  noblest  of  the 
earth;  and  fifty  years  had  hardened  this  primitive 
community  into  fixed  conditions. 

That  people  we  can  easily  picture  to  ourselves, 
from  the  abundant  though  not  over  friendly  descrip- 
tions which  have  survived  from  the  pens  of  not  very 
sympathetic  visitors  to  this  distant  shore.  Indeed, 
I cannot  but  think  that  we  their  descendants  have 
enough  of  them  surviving  in  us  to  make  it  easier, 
one  would  suppose,  than  it  sometimes  seems  to  be, 
to  reproduce  their  likeness  out  of  our  own  conscious- 
ness. A fixed  and  resolute  race,  — the  English  iron 
tempered  to  steel  by  the  struggle  with  the  untamed 
nature  of  the  wilderness,  the  hardships  of  the  first 
fifty  years  of  life  here  before  the  climate  was  under- 
stood, the  rugged  world  civilized  and  softened,  the 
comforts  of  fireside  and  food  fairly  won.  The  law  of 
the  “ survival  of  the  fittest  ” had  worked  with  all  its 
merciless  severity,  and  left  only  the  toughest  in  body 


20 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


and  mind,  — those  who  would  not  yield  to  the  New 
England  winter,  and  were  not  likely  to  yield  one  jot 
beyond  necessity  to  Old  England’s  dictation.  A re- 
ligious Emigration,  they  carried  in  themselves  the 
seeds  of  a sacred  contentiousness,  which  contained 
the  germs,  though  long  repressed,  of  the  sects  which 
have  enriched  our  annals  with  more  varieties  of  Pro- 
testantism than  Bossuet  included  in  his  great  work 
on  that  subject. 

Already,  in  the  first  generation,  the  vision  of  ab- 
solute religious  unity  was  rudely  dispelled  by  the 
sharp  strifes  evoked  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  ear- 
liest representative  of  Women’s  Rights;  and  Rhode 
Island  was  found  a much  needed  and  salutary 
safety-valve  for  the  explosive  ecclesiastical  elements. 
Roger  Williams  and  Gorton  were  free  at  that  dis- 
tance to  work  out  their  theories,  but  could  come  no 
nearer  to  mar  the  peace  of  Israel.  The  second  gen- 
eration saw  multiplying  elements  of  discord,  — the 
Quaker,  shrieking  denunciations  of  the  “ priests  of 
Baal  ” in  the  steeple-houses,  lashed  to  the  cart’s  tail, 
hung  from  the  Boston  Elm ; the  Baptist,  breaking 
the  ice  of  strong  hostility  to  administer  the  waters, 
his  saving  ordinance.  Nor  was  there  perfect  har- 
mony within  the  bosom  of  the  churches  themselves. 
The  Second  Church,  which  was  afterwards  illumi- 
nated by  the  ministry  of  the  Mathers,  — father,  son, 
and  grandson,  — had  indeed  grown  peacefully  out 
of  the  First  Church.  But  the  Third,  which  we 
call  the  Old  South,  was  the  monument  of  a bitter 
strife  — the  controversy  which  convulsed  the  whole 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


21 


colony  for  years  — concerning  the  proper  subjects 
for  infant  baptism. 

On  one  point,  however,  the  elements  most  mutu- 
ally hostile  were  agreed,  — that  is,  in  their  feeling 
of  dislike  and  fear  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Much  as  they  might  be  opposed  to  each  other,  the 
widest  fissure  between  them  was  not  so  deep  but 
that  it  would  close  up  solidly  if  the  faintest  tremor 
of  that  approaching  earthquake  shook  the  ground. 
Randolph  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  1682: 
“ There  was  a great  difference  between  the  old 
church  and  the  members  of  the  new  church  about 
baptisme,  and  their  members  joining  in  full  commu- 
nion with  either  church ; this  was  soe  high  that 
there  was  imprisoning  of  parties  and  great  disturb- 
ances ; but  now,  heereing  of  my  proposals  for  minis- 
ters to  be  sent  over,  . . . they  are  now  joyned  to- 
gether, about  a fortnight  ago,  and  pray  to  God  to 
confound  the  devices  of  all  who  disturbe  their  peace 
and  liberties.”  Nor  is  this  strange.  The  Episco- 
palian who  wonders  at  it  to-day  is  no  more  like  the 
type  which  Randolph  represented  and  which  the 
Puritans  hated  and  dreaded,  than  is  the  Quaker, 
who  represents  some  of  the  gentlest  and  purest  ele- 
ments in  our  social  life,  like  the  wild  figures  clad 
in  sackcloth,  or  in  the  less  substantial  garments  of 
our  first  parents  before  the  Fall,  whose  prophesy- 
ings  were  known  by  the  same  name.  To  every  New 
Englander,  the  English  Church  stood  for  a spiritual 
tyranny  which  had  driven  the  fathers  out  into  the 
wilderness ; in  practice  a corruption  of  the  simplicity 


22 


KING'S  CHAPEL,  BOSTON. 


of  the  Scriptural  rule ; its  hierarchy  contrary  to  the 
gospel ; its  book  of  prayer  idolatrous ; its  adhe- 
rents a worldly  element  demoralizing  to  the  best 
welfare  of  New  England, — to  be  kept  out  if  it 
could  be  done;  if  not,  at  least  to  be  prohibited 
from  practising  their  empty  form  of  religionism 
on  the  Lord’s  day,  and  to  be  held  under  the 
watch  and  ward  of  the  Congregational  churches  in 
hopes  to  regenerate  them  in  a purer  way.  Nor  was 
it  only  the  ancient  grievance  against  Archbishop 
Laud  which  smarted  in  memory.  No  one  could  tell 
how  far,  but  they  feared  very  far,  the  Church  and 
State  religion  of  Charles  II.  was  identical  in  policy 
and  principle  with  that  of  Charles  I.  They  knew 
well  what  happened  to  Scotch  Covenanters  and  to 
English  Puritans,  and  had  no  reason  for  confidence 
in  their  own  exemption  from  the  same  measure. 
Moreover,  the  English  Church  and  the  English 
State  were  identical.  The  representatives  of  the 
one  would  look  after  the  interests  of  the  other; 
and  the  tower  of  King’s  Chapel,  if  such  a place 
should  once  be  built,  would  be,  with  its  gilt  mitre 
and  crown,  a very  short  distance  from  the  head  of 
Long  Wharf,  with  the  royal  flag  flying  above  a 
custom-house.  Those  who  are  disturbed  because 
the  Massachusetts  people  liked  their  commercial 
independence  better  than  paying  duties  as  loyal 
subjects  of  Great  Britain,  forget  that  there  may  be 
an  honest  difference  of  opinion  regarding  the  powers 
conferred  by  the  charter  of  Charles  I.  As  the  Puri- 
tans viewed  it,  this  was  practically  independence. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  23 

On  that  they  had  acted  for  fifty  years ; and  only  the 
force  of  the  stronger  could  modify  their  action. 

The  point  which  the  ruling  influences  here  for- 
got, however,  at  the  time  which  we  are  considering, 
was  the  very  important  fact  that  new  elements  had 
now  come  in  among  them,  to  a considerable  degree 
modifying  the  tone  if  not  of  the  community  at  least 
in  the  community.  The  American  process  had  be- 
gun, which  we  see  in  our  own  day  (and  not  wholly 
to  our  liking),  by  which  there  is  perpetually  going 
on  a transfusion  of  alien  manners,  customs,  ways  of 
thought  and  life  into  the  spirit  of  our  people.  Even 
in  our  own  time  the  process,  though  inevitable,  is 
not  gracefully  accepted  by  us.  The  New  England 
fathers  saw  clearly  enough  that  all  this  tended 
toward  a profound  modification,  if  not  extinction, 
of  the  idea  on  which  New  England  was  founded. 
But  the  other  elements  were  here  to  some  extent, 
and  they  had  come  to  stay,  — Englishmen  who  felt 
that  they  had  a right  to  come  to  an  English  colony, 
and  who  probably  felt  themselves  better  than  the 
people  whom  they  found  here,  from  the  very  fact 
that  they  did  not  enjoy  the  type  of  religious  min- 
istrations which  were  dear  to  the  New  England 
heart.  Lechford  and  Josselyn,  a few  years  before, 
illustrate  their  state  of  mind.  It  did  not  make 
them  more  acceptable  in  the  Puritan  town  that 
they  had  come  to  make  money,  and  not  for  con- 
science’ sake.  But  here  they  were,  with  clear  pref- 
erences for  the  Church  of  England  ritual  in  which 
they  had  been  born  and  bred.  They  went  to  meet- 


24 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


in g,  as  the  whole  population  did,  and  must,  under 
law.  But  a sort  of  silent  protest  must  have  been 
felt  in  their  presence,  though  they  probably  rarely 
ventured  to  show  it  as  frankly  as  did  Mrs.  Ran- 
dolph in  1682,  when,  sitting  with  her  husband  in 
Mr.  Joyliffe’s  pew  in  the  South  Meeting-house,  she 
was  observed  to  “ make  a curtesy  at  the  name  of 
Jesus,  even  in  prayer-time.” 

How  many  there  were  of  this  way  of  thinking  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  discern  through  the  mists  of  time. 
Randolph  estimated  the  number  of  disaffected  very 
high,  — at  four-fifths  of  the  population  ; he  also  wrote 
home  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  after  the  Church  of 
England  had  been  set  up  here,  that  there  was  a 
congregation  of  four  hundred.  But  his  figures  on 
all  subjects  are  untrustworthy,  unless  we  can  check 
them  from  other  sources  of  information ; nor  does 
he  say  how  large  a proportion  was  composed  of 
“boys  and  negros,”  who  until  the  Revolution  consti- 
tuted so  large  a part  of  the  congregation  of  King’s 
Chapel  as  to  require  a special  officer  to  “look  after” 
them,  and  whose  “looking  after”  doubtless  required 
pretty  energetic  measures  of  repression,  — not  very 
godly  or  profitable  worshippers.  The  Records  of 
King’s  Chapel  contain  no  clear  indication  of  the 
numbers  of  the  congregation ; I judge  from  them, 
however,  that  at  first  only  a few  persons  of  influ- 
ence were  willing  to  risk  the  obnoxious  step  of  iden- 
tifying themselves  with  the  planting  of  the  English 
Church  here.  Under  the  sunshine  of  Sir  Edmund 
Andros  the  church  blossomed  into  prosperity,  but 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  25 

at  his  downfall  the  Puritans  exulted  in  the  thought 
that  it  had  withered  to  the  root. 

These  then  were  the  elements  that  awaited  the 
loss  of  the  charter  which  befell  at  last  in  October, 
1684,  after  nearly  twenty  years’  threatening,  — on 
one  side  agonized  fear,  on  the  other  eager  hope, 
that  a spiritual  domination,  which  was  according 
to  the  point  of  the  view  beneficent  or  blasting, 
would  be  overthrown.  The  central  figure  in  all 
this  commotion  is,  of  course,  Edward  Randolph. 

Two  years  before  the  charter  was  annulled,  and 
four  years  before  the  arrival  here  of  the  Rev.  Rob- 
ert Ratcliffe  the  first  Church  of  England  minister, 
Randolph  had  written  to  the  Bishop  of  London, 
reminding  him  that  “ In  my  attendance  on  your 
lordship,  I often  exprest  that  some  able  ministers 
might  be  appoynted  to  performe  the  officies  of  the 
church  with  us.  The  main  obstacle  was  (as  might 
be  supposed)  how  they  should  be  maintayned.” 

Before  any  question  of  the  mode  of  his  support 
was  settled,  the  minister  himself  arrived,  — a long 
delayed  blessing,  — May  15,  1686.  Nearly  four  years 
before,  Randolph  had  written  to  the  Bishop,  “ The 
very  report  [that  your  lordship  hath  remembered  us 
and  sent  over  a minister]  hath  given  great  satisfaction 
to  many  hundreds  whose  children  are  not  baptized, 
and  to  as  many  who  never,  since  they  came  out  of 
England,  received  the  sacraments.”  The  cause  of 
the  delay  till  a year  and  a half  after  the  charter 
was  annulled,  was  the  death  of  Charles  II.  and  the 
changes  consequent  thereon. 


4 


26 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


Mr.  Ratcliffe  came  in  the  “ Rose  ” frigate,  with 
Captain  George,  the  same  officer  who  was  captured 
by  the  people  in  the  memorable  rising  against 
Andros  in  April,  1689,  and  the  same  ship  which  they 
compelled  to  surrender  on  that  great  day.  They 
brought  with  them  the  commission  to  Joseph 
Dudley  as  President  of  Massachusetts,  Maine,  Nova 
Scotia,  and  the  lands  between. 

And  now  we  approach  the  place  which  is  des- 
tined to  be  the  first  cradle  of  our  infant  church,  and 
the  town-house  of  Boston  becomes  the  scene  of 
eventful  things.  We  can  look  over  Sewall’s  shoul- 
der  as  he  writes  in  his  little  brown  diary  day  by  day, 
and  can  enter  into  the  intense  though  suppressed 
feeling  of  the  writer  at  the  events  which  brought 
home  to  all  the  reality  of  the  change  which  had 
come.  We  see  Randolph  hurrying  up  from  Nantas- 
ket  on  the  arrival  of  the  “ Rose  ” on  Friday,  May  14, 
so  that  he  reaches  town  by  8 a.  m.,  and  posting  by 
coach  to  Roxbury  to  notify  Major  Dudley  of  his 
new  dignity.  We  see  the  dignitaries  whom  Dudley 
has  summoned  to  Captain  Paige’s,  assuring  their 
own  eyes  that  it  is  really  so,  as  they  see  “ the  Exem- 
plification of  the  judgment  against  the  Charter,  with 
the  Broad  Seal  affixed,”  and  that  it  is  hopeless  to 
resist.  The  Sabbath  intervenes,  — a dark  day  for 
the  New  Englanders.  Randolph  and  his  family  sit 
meekly  in  a pew  at  the  South  Meeting-house,  and 
hear  Mr.  Willard  pray,  “ not  for  the  Governor  or 
Government  as  formerly,  but  speak  so  as  implies  it 
to  be  changed  or  changing.”  On  Monday  the  Gen- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


27 


eral  Court  sits  at  the  town-house  to  hear  their  fate. 
“ The  Old  Government,”  writes  Sewall,  “ draws  to 
the  north  side ; Mr.  Addington,  Captain  Smith,  and 
I sit  at  the  Table,  there  not  being  room  ; Major  Dud- 
ley the  President,  Major  Pynchon,  Captain  Gedney, 
Mr.  Mason,  Mr.  Randolph,  Captain  Winthrop,  Mr. 
Wharton,  come  in  on  the  Left  — Mr.  Stoughton  I 
left  out.  Came  also  Captain  [of]  King’s  Frigate, 
Gov?  Hinldey,  Gov?  West,  and  sate  on  the  Bench ; 
and  the  Room  pretty  well  filled  with  Spectators  in 
an  instant.  Major  Dudley  made  a Speech,  that  was 
sorry  could  treat  them  no  longer  as  Government 
Company ; Produced  the  Exemplification  of  the 
Charter’s  Condemnation,  the  Commission  under  the 
Broad  Seal  of  England  — both, . . . openly  exhibiting 
them  to  the  People ; when  had  done,  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor said  suppos’d  they  expected  not  the  Court’s 
Answer  now,  which  the  President  took  up  and  said 
they  could  not  acknowledge  them  as  such,  and  could 
no  way  capitulate  with  them ; to  which  I think  no 
Reply.  When  gone  . . . spake  our  Minds.  I chose 
to  say  after  the  Major  Generali,  adding  that  the 
foundations  being  destroyed,  what  can  the  Righteous 
do,  — speaking  against  a Protest,  which  some  spake 
for.” 

The  dramatic  close  of  this  episode  falls  on  the 
Friday  following,  when  Sewall  found  the  magistrates 
and  deputies  not  at  the  town-house,  but  at  the 
Governor’s.  “ Mr.  Nowell  prayed  that  God  would 
pardon  each  Magistrate  and  Deputy’s  Sin.  Thanked 
God  for  our  hithertos  of  Mercy  fifty-six  years,  in 


28 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


which  time  sad  calamities  elsewhere,  as  Massacre 
Piedmont ; thanked  God  for  what  we  might  expect 
from  sundry  of  those  now  set  over  us.  I moved  to 
sing,  so  sung  the  17*  and  18^  verses  of  Habakkuk.” 
That  touching  and  sublime  expression  of  trust, 
which  declares  that  “ although  the  fig-tree  shall  not 
blossom,  and  the  laborer  of  the  olive  shall  fail,  . . . 
yet  I will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,”  was  the  expiring  cry 
of  the  old  New  England  theocracy.  No  wonder 
that  as  they  saw  the  edifice  of  the  fathers  go  down 
in  ruins,  “Many  Tears  were  shed  in  Prayer  and 
parting.”  Yet  they  expired  with  faith  upon  their 
lips. 

But  while  the  old  glory  thus  withdrew  its  vanish- 
ing skirts  from  the  noteworthy  building  which  had 
seen  the  Government  of  Massachusetts  administered 
under  the  charter  by  able  and  resolute  lovers  of  the 
old  New  England  way,  the  echoes  of  unfamiliar 
sounds  in  this  Puritan  air  had  already  been  heard 
within  those  walls;  for  on  the  Tuesday  of  that  week, 
by  whose  authority  we  are  not  told,  “ Prayer  was  had 
at  the  Town  House,”  — the  first  public  administra- 
tion of  the  English  Church  since  the  colony  began. 
And  the  same  day  saw  Mr.  Ratcliffe  marry  a couple 
“ according  to  the  Service  Book,”  and  that,  too,  with 
a ring,  which  they  borrowed.  But  another  Sunday 
passed,  before  the  formal  application  was  made  for 
due  recognition  of  the  church  established  hy  law  in 
Great  Britain.  One  would  like  to  know  where  Mr. 
Ratcliffe  went  to  meeting  that  day,  or  if  he  broke 
the  strict  Sabbath-keeping  laws  and  stayed  at  home. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  29 

On  Wednesday,  however,  May  26,  “ Mr.  Ratcliffe, 
the  minister,  waits  on  the  Council;  Mr.  Mason  and 
Randolph  propose  that  he  may  have  one  of  the  three 
Houses  to  preach  in.  That  is  deny’d,  and  he  is 
granted  the  East-End  of  the  Town  House,  where  the 
Deputies  used  to  meet,  untill  those  who  desire  his 
Ministry  shall  provide  a fitter  place.” 

We  can  look  around  the  Council  board  and  see 
by  the  records  who  were  present  to  consider  this 
request,  — Dudley,  Stoughton,  Fitz  John  and  Wait 
Winthrop,  Pynchon,  Dudley,  Wharton,  Gedney,  and 
E.  Tyng.  We  may  well  regret  that  Sewall  was  not 
a councillor,  and  that  no  record  is  preserved  of  that 
scene,  — the  gloom  and  hesitation  on  the  brow  of 
the  majority  of  the  Council,  determined  to  oppose  as 
far  as  they  can,  yet  afraid  to  oppose  too  far,  and 
troubled  by  the  thought  that  there  is  one  among 
them  who  will  report  everything  at  home  in  Eng- 
land. If  you  will  look  at  the  portrait  of  William 
Stoughton,  in  the  Memorial  Hall  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, painted  in  his  old  age,  you  will  perhaps  think 
with  me  that  the  pinched  and  worried  expression 
dates  from  this  anxious  moment.  Mason  and  Ran- 
dolph, however,  are  triumphant. 

Dudley  is  full  of  perplexity.  He  knows  well  that 
if  he  favors  one  inch  of  concession  he  will  lose  his 
last  hold  on  the  people,  who  distrust  him ; that  if 
he  does  not,  he  will  offend  Randolph,  — and  he  dares 
not  kick  away  that  ladder  of  his  fortune.  He  still 
wears  the  long  straight  Puritan  hair  and  has  the 
Puritan  cast  of  face.  The  day  will  come  when  he 


30 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


will  return  from  England  to  be  Governor,  with  huge 
wig  and  the  look  of  a man  of  the  world  ; but  he  has 
not  yet  emerged  from  the  chrysalis. 

A good  and  honest  bearing,  and  that  of  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman,  is  that  of  Rev.  Robert  Ratcliffe,  — “a 
sober,  prudent  gent,  and  well  approved,”  wearing  the 
long  black  cassock  of  his  calling ; “ a very  Excellent 
Preacher,  whose  Matter  was  good,  and  the  Dress  in 
which  he  put  it  Extraordinary,  he  being  as  well  an 
Orator  as  a Preacher.”  In  graceful,  dignified  speech 
he  asks  that  the  King’s  church  may  have  a fit  shel- 
ter in  the  King’s  most  loyal  colony,  and  then  with- 
draws, while  the  debate  is  urged  with  hot  and  bitter 
words. 

And  now  turn  from  the  debate  on  this  all-engross- 
ing subject,  which  must  have  thrilled  from  the  town- 
house  throughout  the  little  town,  and  try  to  picture 
to  yourselves  the  state  of  mind  of  the  Puritans  when 
they  think  how  their  one  public  building,  the  sym- 
bol and  shelter  of  the  highest  authority  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, is  given  up  to  this  use,  — the  Puritan 
State  taking,  as  it  were,  under  the  wing  of  its  sanc- 
tion (though  with  an  ill-grace)  the  representative  of 
that  which  cast  the  fathers  out  from  the  mother- 
country!  We  are  not  left  to  imagination  ; for  one  of 
them  has  outlined  his  feelings  in  his  diary.  Turn- 
ing to  the  left  from  the  corner  of  Prison  Lane, 
passing  the  Old  Church  as  it  looks  grimly  across 
the  way  at  the  new  sight,  leaving  the  porticoed 
town-house  behind  you,  while  a company  of  men 
and  boys  watches  curiously  to  see  if  Mr.  Ratcliffe 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  3 1 

will  come  in  his  surplice,  or,  like  the  ministers  of 
the  town,  in  Geneva  gown  and  bands,  — walk  with 
me  up  “ the  Broad  Street  ” (which  took  its  later 
name  from  Washington’s  triumphal  passage  over  it 
more  than  a century  later),  as  it  leads  past  the  Third 
Meeting-house  toward  Roxbury.  And  now  here  is 
Captain  Samuel  Sewall’s  house1  on  “Seven  Star 
Lane  ” (which  we  know  as  Summer  Street),  the 
home  which  his  wife  had  inherited  from  her  father 
John  Hull,  the  famous  mint-master.  On  this  mild 
May  morning  the  window  is  left  ajar,  and  we  can 
hear  the  family  prayers.  An  eight  year  old  boy  is 
reading.  “ My  Son  reads  to  me  in  course  the  26th 
of  Isaiah,  — ‘In  that  day  shall  this  Song  be  sung,’ 
etc.  And  we  sing  the  141st  Psalm,  both  exceedingly 
suited  to  this  day,  wherein  there  is  to  be  worship 
according  to  the  Church  of  England,  as ’t  is  called, 
in  the  Town-House,  by  Countenance  of  Authority.” 
The  psalm  rises  on  the  still  air,  in  the  rugged  ver- 
sion of  the  Bay  Psalm  Book,  to  one  of  the  old  tunes 
which  Sewall  delighted  to  sing.  “ Set  a watch,  O 
Lord,  before  my  mouth ; keep  the  door  of  my  lips. 
. . . Incline  not  my  heart  ...  to  practise  wicked 
works  with  men  that  work  iniquity,  and  let  me  not 
eat  of  their  dainties.  When  their  judges  are  over- 

1 The  letter  from  Dr.  Estes  Howe  to  Mr.  Charles  Deane,  printed 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  (second 
series,  i.  312-326),  demonstrates  that  Sewall  resided  here,  and  not 
in  the  house  also  owned  by  him,  with  casement  of  diamond  panes 
set  in  lead,  built  by  Sir  Henry  Vane,  and  where  John  Cotton  once 
dwelt,  “at  a distance  from  other  buildings  and  in  winter  very 
bleake,”  on  the  eastern  slope  of  Beacon  Hill,  near  our  Pemberton 
Square  of  to-day. 


32  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

thrown  in  stony  places,  they  shall  hear  my  words. 
Let  the  wicked  fall  into  their  own  nets,  whilst  that 
I escape.”  And  then  the  father  of  the  family  prays, 
doubtless  in  a tone  and  strain  whose  keynote  was 
sounded  by  the  Scripture  lesson. 

So  was  it,  probably,  in  hundreds  of  old-fashioned 
Boston  homes,  as  well  as  Sewall’s,  on  that  day  when 
“worship  according  to  the  Church  of  England”  was 
“ in  the  Town  House,  by  Countenance  of  Authority.” 
Yet  there  were  other  Christian  homes,  religious 
and  devout,  which  retained  a fresher  and  more  lov- 
ing memory  of  the  hallowed  usages  of  the  mother- 
country,  where  those  who  had  not  breathed  the  New 
England  air  long  enough  to  be  weaned  from  Old 
England,  and  who  did  not  share  in  the  reverence 
for  the  usages  of  strict  Puritanism  or  sympathize 
with  much  of  its  spirit,  felt  at  last  the  loosening  of 
bonds  which  had  fretted  them.  To  them  those 
other  words  of  the  Scripture,  which  I have  taken  as 
my  text,  might  well  have  seemed  a gracious  prophecy, 
as  they  saw  a shoot  from  the  stately  Church  of  Eng- 
land set  in  the  very  high  places  of  the  Puritan  Zion  : 
“Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ; I will  also  take  of  the 
highest  branch  of  the  high  cedar,  and  will  set  it;  I 
will  crop  off,  from  the  top  his  young  twigs  a tender 
one,  and  will  plant  it  upon  a high  mountain  and 
eminent;  In  the  mountain  of  the  height  of  Israel 
will  I plant  it : it  shall  bring  forth  boughs,  and  bear 
fruit,  and  be  a goodly  cedar.” 

Before  us  to-day  there  wait  in  this  communion 
service  the  sacred  emblems  of  that  life  which  was 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  33 

lived  and  died  for  all  men,  and  which  in  passing  in- 
to human  history  transfigured  that  history  forever. 
Our  thoughts  of  controversy  and  strife  may  have 
seemed  to  draw  us  far  away  from  those  which  gather 
closest  around  the  Lord’s  Table.  Yet  not  wholly 
so  ; for  the  very  earnestness  of  the  dispute  showed 
that  the  hearts  and  souls  of  men  were  deeply  en- 
gaged ; and  every  thought  of  faithfulness  and  of 
duty  leads  us  straight  to  him  from  whom  his  follow- 
ers learn  how  conscience  may  inspire  self-sacrifice, 
and  how  greater  than  whole  burnt-offerings  is  a 
loving  spirit. 


5 


34 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


II. 

Lord,  I have  loved  the  habitation  of  thy  house,  and  the 

PLACE  WHERE  THY  HONOR  DWELLETH.  — Psalm  XXvi.  8. 

T N my  last  sermon  I sought  to  prepare  our  minds 
A for  the  interesting  commemorative  occasion 
which  is  before  us,  by  showing  what  the  background 
of  Puritanism  was,  against  whose  lowering  sky  we 
see  the  twinkling  light  of  the  earliest  preparations  to 
kindle  a fire  on  the  altar  of  the  first  King’s  Chapel 
here.  The  history  which  follows  is  by  no  means 
that  of  this  church  alone,  but  also  of  a great  and 
widespread  communion  of  churches,  one  of  whose 
deepest  roots  in  the  past,  so  far  as  this  American 
world  is  concerned,  is  here.  It  was  remembered 
by  them  with  fitting  and  impressive  services  in  the 
old  Christ  Church  not  long  since ; and  much  of  the 
story  has  been  told  besides  in  histories  and  ser- 
mons, which  renders  it  superfluous  for  me  to  go  over 
it  again  in  detail  or  even  in  outline,  although  to 
a lover  of  the  past  the  story  has  its  own  perennial 
interest,  and  to  one  who  looks  to  see  God’s  hand  in 
human  history,  it  shines  with  that  presence.  But 
I have  felt  that  perhaps  the  best  course  for  us  to- 
day would  be  to  try  to  set  before  ourselves  one  spe- 
cial scene  in  that  early  story  of  our  church,  and  to 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


35 


linger  among  its  beginnings  in  that  first  year  of 
its  life,  before  it  was  yet  planted  on  this  spot  by 
the  earliest  “ God’s  acre  ” of  Boston. 

I am  to  speak,  then,  of  one  of  the  most  pictur- 
esque and  dramatic  incidents  in  the  earlier  history 
of  Boston.  One  can  but  regret  that  the  earliest 
building  with  which  the  events  that  I have  to  de- 
scribe are  associated  has  not  survived  to  us,  even 
though  the  old  State  House,  as  we  know  it,  contin- 
ues its  tradition  and  is  its  monument  upon  the  spot 
which  was,  for  a century  and  a half  of  the  life  of  the 
town,  the  centre  and  heart  whence  everything  pul- 
sated. It  illustrates  the  fixity  of  conditions  in  the 
Old  World  as  compared  with  the  New,  and  shows 
how  much  more  tenderly  time  and  the  hand  of  man 
have  spared  such  ancient  memorials,  when  we  think 
of  some  of  the  old  free  cities  of  Germany, — like 
Bremen  for  example,  which  preserves  its  venerable 
Rathhaus  as  its  glory  and  pride.  That  interesting 
building  stands  stately  and  beautiful,  with  rich  fa- 
cade and  gable,  exactly  as  it  stood  when  the  Great 
Emigration  sailed  from  Southampton  in  the  “ Ar- 
bella  ” and  her  consorts,  substantially  the  same  as  it 
stood  when  Columbus  was  born.  The  stone  Roland 
bearing  sword  and  shield,  with  the  head  and  hand 
of  a criminal  lying  at  his  feet,  typifying  the  juris- 
diction of  a free  city,  stares  as  blankly  into  space 
as  he  did  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  uncon- 
scious of  the  whole  New  World  which  has  risen  out 
of  the  void.  Could  such  an  enduring  shrine  have 


36 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


been  left  to  us  by  the  fathers,  we  should  all  agree  that 
neither  gothic  roofs  nor  fronts  of  carven  stone  en- 
nobled it  above  its  proper  worth  as  the  centre,  not 
merely  of  a town  history,  but  of  the  formation  and 
crystallizing  period  of  a great  people ; and  our 
Roland  would  typify  not  merely  the  commercial 
freedom  of  a city,  but  the  imperial  freedom  of  a 
nation. 

And  yet,  to  the  discerning  eye,  that  primitive 
town-house  had  in  its  very  homeliness  and  sim- 
plicity a truer  fitness  to  the  people  who  had  built 
it,  and  whose  convenience  it  served,  than  the  state- 
liest edifice  of  Old  World  fame.  As  you  stand  at 
Salem  in  the  little  building  of  the  First  Church, — 
whose  ryde  framework,  rescued  a few  years  ago  from 
the  barn  in  whose  disguise  it  had  been  securely 
hidden  for  nearly  two  centuries,  — and  seem  to 
hear  those  rough  timbers,  just  squared  with  the 
broadaxe,  echo  the  tones  of  Hugh  Peter  and  Roger 
Williams,  you  feel  that  you  are  veritably  in  one  of 
the  mcunabula  gentium , — a place  where  a nation 
was  cradled. 

So  might  you  feel,  in  a measure  also,  if  you  were 
to  be  landing  with  Rev.  Robert  Ratcliffe  at  this 
town  of  less  than  two  thousand  houses  and  eight 
thousand  people,  a third  of  them  men  trained  to 
arms.  The  three  hills,  severally  capped  by  a beacon, 
a windmill,  and  a fort;  the  houses  clustered  beneath 
them,  close  together  along  the  shore,  and  farther 
back  scattered  among  gardens;  the  busy  “ fairs,”  such 
as  Josselyn  saw  them;  and  “on  the  south  a small  but 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  37 

pleasant  common,  where  the  gallants,  a little  before 
sunset,  walk  with  their  marmalet-madams  till  the 
nine  o’clock  bell  rings  them  home  to  their  respec- 
tive habitations,”  — are  a pleasant  picture  after  a 
long  voyage.  “ The  buildings  of  Boston,”  said  an 
impudent  visitor,  “ like  the  women,  are  neat  and 
handsome ; their  streets,  like  the  hearts  of  the  male 
inhabitants,  paved  with  pebbles.”  Up  such  a rough- 
shod way,  the  broad  main  street,  you  hobble,  and 
soon  come  to  the  town-house,  built  with  Captain 
Robert  Keayne’s  legacy,  “ upon  pillars,  where  the 
merchants  may  confer,”  a space  only  partially  en- 
closed, while  “in  the  chambers  above  they  keep 
their  monthly  courts.”  With  belfry  and  sun-dial 
and  balcony  and  outside  staircase,  and  stocks  and 
pillory  under  its  shadow,  this  is  evidently  the  centre 
and  heart  of  the  town.  A few  steps  away  stands 
the  mother  church  ; and  two  main  arteries  stretch 
off,  one  to  the  northern  ferry  over  the  Charles,  the 
other  to  the  south,  “where  the  public  gibbet  creaked 
horribly  in  the  wind,  and  the  peninsula  contracted 
to  a narrow  isthmus,  over  which  passed  the  single 
great  road  from  the  metropolis.  Tributary  lanes, 
like  rivulets,  everywhere  followed  the  natural  con- 
formation of  the  ground.” 

I spoke  before  of  the  opening  act  of  the  exciting 
drama,  when  Rev.  Robert  Ratcliffe  stood  before  the 
council  and  obtained  his  petition  for  a place  of  wor- 
ship, they  granting  him  the  use  of  the  library  in 
the  town-house  till  they  who  desire  his  ministrations 
shall  provide  a fitter  place. 


38 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


It  was,  however,  another  week  before  the  worship 
was  really  held,  as  “ a movable  pulpit  ” had  to  be 
provided,  “ carried  up  and  down  stairs,  as  occasion 
serves.”  “ It  seems,”  says  Sewall,  “ many  crowded 
thither.”  On  the  15th  of  June,  1686,  a meeting  for 
organization  was  held  “by  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  by  law  established  under 
the  gracious  influence  of  the  most  illustrious  Prince, 
our  Sovereign  Lord  James  the  II.,  by  the  Grace  of 
God,  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland 
king,  defendour  of  the  faith,  etc.,  ...  at  Boston, 
within  his  said  Majestie’s  territory  and  dominion  of 
New  England  in  America.”  It  was  here  voted  to 
send  “ an  humble  address  ” to  the  King  “ to  implore 
his  Majestie’s  favour  to  our  church,”  and  to  write  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishop  of 
London.  Also  “Agreed,  that  Mr.  Smith  the  joyner 
do  make  12  formes  for  the  service  of  the  church, 
for  each  of  which  he  shall  be  paid  4s.  8d.  Agreed, 
with  the  said  Mr.  Smith  the  joyner,  that  this  church 
will  pay  and  allow  unto  him  20 s.  i8d.  quarterlie,  and 
every  quarter,  for  and  in  consideration  of  his  clean- 
ing, placing,  and  removing  the  pulpit,  forms,  table, 
etc.,  and  doing  all  other  things  which  shall  be  con- 
venient and  necessary  in  our  place  of  publique 
Assembling.” 

This  was  “to  furnish  the  library  room  in  the 
Town  House  in  a decent  manner,  for  the  perform- 
ance of  divine  service.  . . . This  was  truly  an  humble 
beginning  for  those  who  made  such  high  pretensions 
as  did  these  zealous  royalists  and  churchmen.  As 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  39 

they  assembled  in  the  east  end  of  the  town-house, 
and  looked  round  on  their  twelve  forms  and  their 
movable  pulpit,  they  must  have  felt  the  contrast  be- 
tween such  a tabernacle  and  the  solemn  old  cathe- 
drals at  home  ; and  have  felt  too  that  they  were  among 
a people  who,  though  of  the  same  blood  with  them- 
selves, were  strangers  to  their  mode  of  faith  and  wor- 
ship,  despising  what  they  esteemed  most  sacred,  and 
setting  at  nought  the  power  which  they  deemed  un- 
questionable. It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  these 
feelings  were  calculated  to  conciliate  them  toward 
the  Congregationalists,  or  that  the  condition  in  which 
they  found  themselves  was  favorable  at  the  time  to 
their  growth  in  Christian  humility  or  charity.” 

The  wonderful  thing  was,  certainly,  that  they 
should  find  themselves  in  the  town-house  at  all ; 
and  it  shows  how  far  the  spirit  of  the  colony  was 
under  the  dread  of  English  power.  But  when  it 
came  to  any  concession  beyond,  even  the  Council 
or  a majority  of  them,  though  it  contained  Dud- 
ley, Mason,  and  Randolph,  was  firm.  A fortnight 
later,  July  1,  a paper  from  “ Mr.  Robert  Ratcliffe, 
desiring  an  honorable  maintainance  and  good  en- 
couragement suitable  for  a minister  of  the  Church 
of  England,”  was  read  at  the  council  meeting,  and  in 
answer  it  was  “ ordered  that  the  contribution  money 
collected  in  the  church  where  he  performs  divine 
service  be  solely  applied  to  the  maintainance  of 
Mr.  Ratcliffe.”  No  extreme  concession,  certainly. 
So  the  minister  was  left  to  the  ^50  a year  which 
was  thus  collected. 


40 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


And  now  if  we  pass  out  of  the  council  chamber, 
where  doubtless  this  proposition  has  been  hotly 
debated,  and  where  Randolph  had  been  greatly 
disgusted  at  the  flinching  of  Dudley  (whom  he 
had  put  in  power)  from  carrying  out  his  will,  into 
the  library  room,  we  can  catch  glimpses  of  the 
scene.  Even  the  Puritan  diarist,  though  he  deemed 
its  presence  there  a pollution,  and  “ dehorted  ” 
his  family  from  entering  such  assemblies,  somehow 
knew  what  was  going  on.  When  “ one  Mr.  Clark, 
preacher  at  the  town-house,  speaks  much  against 
the  Presbyterians  in  England  and  here,”  he  hears 
the  echo;  and  when  “one  Robison,  Esq.,  that  came 
from  Antego,  is  buried  with  the  common  prayer, 
and  first  was  had  to  the  town-house  and  set  before 
the  pulpit ; ” and  when  on  “ Sabbath  day,  August 
8,  ’t  is  said  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord’s  Supper 
is  administered  at  the  town-house,”  — he  notes, 
“ Cleverly  there.” 

Meantime,  Randolph  was  writing  home,  with 
touches  that  add  vividness  to  the  picture:  — 

“ Our  company  increasing  beyond  the  expectation  of  the 
governt,  we  now  use  ye  exchange,  and  have  ye  common 
prayer  and  two  sermons  every  Sunday,  and  at  7 o’clock  in 
ye  morning  on  Wednesdays  and  Frydays  the  whole  ser- 
vice of  ye  church.  ...  To  humour  the  people  our  minister 
preaches  twice  a day  and  baptises  all  that  come  to  him,  — 
some  infants,  some  adult  persons.  We  . . . resolve  not  to 
be  baffled  by  the  great  affronts,  — some  calling  our  min- 
ister Baal’s  priest,  and  some  of  their  ministers  from  the 
pulpit  calling  our  praiers  leeks,  garlick,  and  trash.  . . . 
To  all  my  crimes  [I  have]  added  this  one  as  the  greatest 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  4 1 

in  bringing  the  letherdge1  and  cerimonise  of  the  Church  of 
England  to  be  observed  amongst  us.” 

But  there  were  those  who  did  not,  like  Randolph, 
write  letters,  whose  feelings  we  must  try  to  penetrate, 
if  we  would  understand  why  the  Church  of  England 
ought  to  have  been  allowed  here,  and  how  it  won 
its  way,  — those  to  whom  that  little  library  room  at 
the  east  end  of  the  town-house  was  like  the  chamber 
looking  toward  the  sun-rising,  in  which  Bunyan’s  pil- 
grim lay  till  the  dawn,  and  arose  and  sang  a hymn. 
“In  the  most  contentious  and  stormy  periods,”  says 
Dr.  Greenwood,  “ I doubt  not  that  a holy  calm  was 
shed  upon  the  heart  of  many  a worshipper  as  he 
offered  up  his  prayers  in  the  way  which  to  him  was 
best  and  most  affecting,  and  perhaps  the  way  in 
which,  long  years  ago,  he  had  offered  them  up  in 
some  ivy-clad  village  church  of  green  England,  with 
many  dear  friends  about  him,  now  absent  or  dead. 
And  when  they  celebrated  their  first  communion, 
on  the  second  Sabbath  in  August,  1686,  I am  fully 
persuaded  that  it  was  celebrated  in  that  small  room 
which  they  held  by  sufferance,  and  round  that  ‘table* 
which  was  their  cheap  and  lately  constructed  altar, 
with  as  much  reverence  and  humility  and  edifica- 
tion as  it  was  in  any  church  or  meeting-house  in 
Old  England  or  New.” 

The  occupancy  of  the  town-house  was  long 
enough  to  give  the  spot  indelible  associations,  yet 
not  so  long  as  the  Puritans  may  have  desired.  For 

1 The  misspelling  is  probably  due  to  the  mistake  of  a copyist. 

6 


42 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


already  in  the  same  July  came  the  report  that  Dud- 
ley’s presidency  would  be  only  brief,  and  in  Decem- 
ber his  rumored  successor  arrived.  The  extremists 
among  the  churchmen  had  doubtless  been  content 
to  await  his  coming,  in  hopes  of  seeing  more  ener- 
getic measures  adopted.  They  started  a subscrip- 
tion paper,  indeed,  for  money  to  build  a church 
for  themselves  ; but  there  seem  not  to  have  been 
enough  of  them  to  prosper  greatly  with  this,  from 
their  own  resources,  and  a sufficient  motive  was 
wanting  to  persuade  the  Puritan  party  to  contribute. 
Sewall  records  that  Randolph  asked  him  to  do  so, 
but  “seemed  displeased  because  he  spoke  not  up 
to  it.”  The  temporary  occupation  of  the  town- 
house  continued,  therefore,  unchanged  through  that 
summer  and  autumn  of  1686;  and  there  Sir  Ed- 
mund Andros  found  the  little  nursling  of  the  Eng- 
lish church  feebly  housed  from  the  wintry  climate 
of  New  England,  when  on  the  20th  of  December 
he  landed,  the  representative  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
king  who  was  ex  officio  head  of  Church  as  well  as 
of  State. 

The  moment  we  speak  of  Andros,  a wide  and 
tempting  field  opens  before  us,  which  would  lead 
us  beyond  our  subject  and  quite  outside  the  doors 
of  the  old  town-house,  although  indeed  it  is  around 
that  building  that  the  whole  of  that  pictorial  chap- 
ter of  our  colonial  history  seems  to  revolve,  from 
the  day  of  his  triumphal  entry  into  it  to  the  memo- 
rable April  day,  twenty-eight  months  after,  when 
the  “ declaration  ” deposing  him  was  read  from  its 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  43 

gallery,  and  he  was  brought  to  it  a prisoner.  But 
our  field  of  vision  to-day  only  sees  him  as  now  the 
pivotal  person  in  the  questions  which  arose  at  once 
concerning  the  Church  of  England  here. 

We  see  him  then  on  that  December  twentieth 
landing  “ at  Governor  Leverett’s  wharf  about  2 p.  m., 
where  the  president,  etc.,  met  him,  and  so  march  up 
through  the  Guards  of  the  8 Companyes  to  the 
Town  House,  where  part  of  the  Commission  read.” 
Whether  the  sentence  was  read  we  are  not  told, 
which  enjoined  “ that  such  especially  as  shall  be 
conformable  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England 
be  particularly  countenanced  and  encouraged  ; ” but 
his  first  act  was  to  carry  out  its  spirit.  He  takes 
the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  as  governor,  then  putting 
on  his  hat  in  token  of  superiority,  administers  the 
oaths  to  the  councillors.  Then  entering  the  library 
room  he  “speaks  to  the  ministers  there  about  Ac- 
commodation as  to  a Meeting-house,  that  might  so 
contrive  the  time  as  one  House  might  serve  two 
Assemblies.”  Perhaps  the  pinched  and  bare  fur- 
nishings of  the  little  room  which  he  looked  round 
upon  stirred  his  choler  (which  lay  near  the  surface 
of  his  mind),  as  he  thought  how  these  Congregation- 
alists  were  housed  in  spacious  temples.  Perhaps 
the  tempter,  in  the  shape  wherein  the  Puritan  party 
almost  believed  him  to  be  incarnated  — in  the  per- 
son of  Randolph  — was  at  his  ear  with  his  favorite 
suggestion.  Perhaps  this  point  had  been  pressed 
upon  him  before  embarking  for  America,  by  the 
Bishop  of  London.  So  arbitrary  a measure  does 


44 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


not,  however,  accord  with  the  just  and  liberal  char- 
acter of  Bishop  Compton,  who  was,  besides,  secluded 
from  the  discharge  of  his  great  office  at  the  time 
when  Andros  was  preparing  to  sail  from  England, 
having  been  summoned  for  contempt  by  King 
James’s  Ecclesiastical  Commission  on  August  3d 
and  suspended  on  September  6,  1686,  while  the 
bishopric  was  administered  by  a commission  headed 
by  the  notorious  Sprat.  But  according  to  a letter  of 
Randolph  to  Archbishop  Sancroft,  dated  August  2, 
1686,  that  dignitary  had  been  “pleased  to  propose, 
when  these  matters  were  debated  at  the  Councill 
Table,”  that  “we  should  have  . . . one  of  the 
churches  in  Boston.”  The  idea  is  more  in  harmony 
with  the  high  prerogative  opinions  of  Sancroft. 
However  this  may  be,  there  is  to  my  mind  no  more 
striking  grouping  of  vividly  colored  contrasts  to  be 
found  in  our  early  history  than  the  scene  which 
Sewall’s  Diary  has  preserved  to  us  in  scantiest  out- 
line, when  in  that  moment  in  the  library  room  of 
the  old  town-house  the  power  of  Great  Britain,  in 
the  person  of  the  King’s  governor,  met  the  per- 
sistent resistance  of  New  England  Puritanism,  in 
the  person  of  the  Boston  ministers,  face  to  face. 

Andros  stands  with  easy  dignity  and  conscious 
power,  not  clad,  as  we  see  him  in  his  portrait,  in  the 
shining  breastplate  which  so  well  befits  a soldier, 
but  as  a gentleman  of  the  court,  “ in  a scarlet  coat 
laced,”  with  lace  falling  from  his  sleeves,  and  in  a 
rich  cravat  at  his  neck,  the  flowing  hair  or  wig,  as 
becomes  a cavalier,  increasing  his  resemblance  to 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  45 

the  Stuart  sovereigns  whom  he  served  ; an  aquiline 
nose,  a flashing  eye,  — the  bearing  of  a man  who 
had  braved  danger  in  soldierly  campaigns;  alto- 
gether a different  figure  from  any  that  had  been 
seen  here.  Able,  imperious,  an  honest  servant  of 
the  despot  to  whom  he  believed  his  loyalty  was  only 
due,  let  us  give  him  his  deserts  of  respect,  though 
we  do  not  love  him,  and  are  thankful  that  the  cause 
which  he  stood  for  went  down  in  wreck.  Our  his- 
tory is  infinitely  richer  because  only  one  Andros 
was  possible  for  us ; and  it  is  more  picturesque  be- 
cause there  was  one. 

Over  against  him  is  another  group  of  five  men  in 
sombre  clerical  dress,  their  look  and  bearing  always 
austere,  and  probably  specially  so  at  this  moment. 
They  have  come  with  the  other  dignitaries  to  wel- 
come him  with  fit  respect,  but  with  no  intention  of 
receiving  his  commands.  He  may  bear  himself  like 
a courtier,  but  they  are  not  the  less  ambassadors  of 
the  Highest;  and  some  of  them  could  stand  in  any 
assembly  with  Andros  as  peers  in  self-possession  and 
in  dignity,  and  one  of  them  certainly  is  to  prove 
himself  more  than  his  peer  in  statesmanship  before 
this  controversy  is  done.  To  Andros  probably,  at 
this  moment,  Increase  Mather  seemed  a very  insig- 
nificant personage  ; but  he  found  his  mistake  later. 
When  Boston  has  time  to  go  back  and  gather  up 
the  remains  of  those  who  have  deserved  most,  no 
memorial  tablet  or  statue  will  be  deemed  too  good 
for  the  man  who  procured  us  the  charter  of  William 
and  Mary.  His  face  also  is  preserved  to  us,  — the 


46 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


countenance  of  a Puritan  scholar,  thoughtful,  re- 
fined, severe.  The  lineaments  of  Willard,  also,  of 
the  South  Church  are  perpetuated  in  a frontispiece 
to  his  “ Body  of  Divinity,”  — a typical  Puritan  face, 
lined  with  thought  and  care.  And  with  them  in  the 
group  are  Cotton  Mather,  young  and  full  of  promise, 
with  most  of  his  books  still  lying  unwritten  in  his 
busy,  restless  brain  ; and  Allen  of  the  First  Church, 
rich  and  hospitable;  and  his  colleague  Joshua 
Moodey,  who  having  been  imprisoned  in  Ports- 
mouth for  his  Puritan  conscience  by  one  governor, 
is  not  likely  to  be  very  compliant  with  the  request  of 
another,  — as  typical  a group  in  our  New  England 
history  as  the  famous  five  members  of  Parliament 
in  that  momentous  scene  which  was  like  the  stroke 
of  destiny  for  Charles  I. 

Behind  them  is  the  whole  passive  resisting  force 
of  the  substance  of  New  England,  when  they  give 
answer,  after  a day’s  interval  for  consultation,  that 
they  “ cannot  with  a good  conscience  consent  y*  our 
Meeting-House  should  be  made  use  of  for  ye  Com- 
mon-prayr  worship.”  Nor  can  there  be  a doubt  that 
when  Sir  Edmund  finally  determined,  as  the  Passion 
Week  of  1687  drew  near,  to  take  possession  of  the 
South  Church  for  his  own  church  service,  he  really 
did  as  much  to  prepare  his  downfall  as  when  he 
acted  on  the  theory  that  the  title  of  Massachusetts 
land-owners  from  the  Indians  was  “ worth  no  more 
than  the  scratch  of  a bear’s  paw.” 

The  reasonable  desire  of  Englishmen  belonging 
to  the  non-Puritan  second  emigration,  here  on  Eng- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  47 

lish  soil,  for  the  worship  and  the  ordinances  of  their 
own  church,  won  its  rights  when  backed  by  the 
strong  secular  arm  of  governors  commissioned  by 
the  Crown  to  rule  an  English  province  as  other 
English  provinces  were  ruled,  at  that  time,  the  world 
over.  In  the  theories  of  both  sides  equally,  Church 
and  State  were  blended  in  seventeenth  century  fash- 
ion. Yet  were  they  wholly  wrong?  Rather  were 
they  both  sublimely  true  in  their  ground-thought, 
that  the  Commonwealth  was  divinely  ordained.  But 
the  Puritan  conception  of  Church  and  State  was  the 
seed-grain  of  future  independence  ; while  the  new 
thought  that  was  planted  here  two  hundred  years 
ago  was  the  old  thought  so  dear  to  the  mother- 
country,  of  English  law  and  English  loyalty  bound 
fast  about  the  ancient  throne  of  England  by  bonds 
of  faith  and  prayer.  Though  the  time  came  at  last 
for  separation,  nevertheless  was  that  English  root 
one  through  which  came  great  and  enduring  gifts 
to  our  country. 

What  followed  this  opening  moment  in  our  his- 
tory will  doubtless  be  described  by  others  in  its  pic- 
torial and  dramatic  setting.  It  is  enough  for  us 
now  to  linger  on  this  threshold  of  the  narrative. 

For  the  present,  then,  we  see  the  Governor  putting 
up  with  the  “ 12  formes”  and  “the  movable  pulpit” 
in  the  town-house,  where  there  was  scant  room  for 
the  increasing  company  of  worshippers.  Thither 
he  goes,  when  January  25  “is  kept  for  Saint  Paul,” 
and  when,  “ Monday,  January  31,  there  is  a meeting 
at  the  Town  House,  forenoon  and  afternoon  (Bell 


48 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


rung  for  it),  respecting  the  beheading  Charles  the 
First.  Governour  there  ; very  bad  going  by  reason 
of  the  watery  snow.”  There,  then,  we  leave  him,  as 
we  turn  away  from  that  scene  of  Old  World  loyalty 
in  this  uncongenial  clime,  — around  him  the  group 
of  courtiers  from  England  or  New  York,  and  those 
whom  the  New  England  bitterness  regarded  as  rene- 
gades, most  of  the  gay  apparel  and  of  the  fashion 
that  cast  a gleam  of  brightness  on  the  sombre  hue 
of  Puritan  Boston,  officers  in  scarlet  uniforms  and 
the  Governor’s  guardsmen,  and  in  the  midst  Rev. 
Robert  Ratcliffe  reading  those  passages  in  which 
the  account  of  the  passion  of  Christ  is  applied  to 
the  blessed  martyr,  Charles  I.,  while  the  congrega- 
tion devoutly  respond : “ They  shed  the  blood  of 
the  just  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem;”  “How  is  he 
numbered  with  the  children  of  God,  and  his  lot  is 
amons:  the  saints.”  And  if  we  listen  for  the  faint 
echoes  of  the  preacher’s  words,  we  can  hear  them 
in  the  rubric  for  the  “ Form  of  prayer  with  fasting, 
to  be  used  yearly  on  the  30th  of  January,  being  the 
day  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  blessed  King  Charles 
the  First,  to  implore  the  mercy  of  God  that  neither 
the  guilt  of  that  sacred  and  innocent  blood,  nor 
those  other  sins  by  which  God  was  provoked  to  de- 
liver up  both  us  and  our  king  into  the  hands  of 
cruel  and  unreasonable  men,  may  at  any  time  here- 
after be  visited  upon  us  or  our  posterity ; ” which  en- 
joins that  “ After  the  Nicene  creed,  shall  be  read, 
instead  of  the  sermon  for  that  day,  the  first  and 
second  parts  of  the  homily  against  disobedience 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


49 


and  wilful  rebellion,  set  forth  by  authority ; or  the 
minister  who  officiates  shall  preach  a sermon  of  his 
own  composing  upon  the  same  argument” 

And  the  words  of  solemn  prayer  rise  from  the 
preacher’s  lips  there  in  the  town-house  of  New  Eng- 
land’s Puritan  people : “ We  acknowledge  it  Thine 
especial  favor,  that,  though  for  our  many  and  great 
provocations  Thou  didst  suffer  Thine  anointed, 
blessed  King  Charles  the  First  (as  on  this  day),  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  violent  and  bloodthirsty  men, 
and  barbarously  to  be  murdered  by  them,  yet  Thou 
didst  not  leave  us  forever  as  sheep  without  a shep- 
herd, but  by  Thy  gracious  providence  did  miracu- 
lously preserve  the  undoubted  heir  of  his  crowns, 
our  then  gracious  sovereign  King  Charles  the 
Second,  from  his  bloody  enemies,  hiding  him  under 
the  shadow  of  Thy  wings  until  their  tyranny  was 
overpast.  . . . Grant  to  our  gracious  sovereign, 
King  James,  a long  and  happy  reign  over  us.” 
And  Governor  and  people  say,  Amen. 

In  such  forms  as  these,  discarded  now  (and  only 
within  the  memory  of  many  of  us)  by  the  Church 
of  England  itself,  we  can  see  one  reason  why  the 
forefathers  of  New  England  did  not  love  or  welcome 
the  church  which  bore  them  as  its  fruit.  Yet  even 
in  these  there  was  a reaching  out  through  the  earthly 
loyalty  after  something  which  we  may  well  desire 
even  in  our  new  age,  and  which  we  who  have  known 
the  story  that  is  written  on  the  soldiers’  monument 
by  our  western  portal,  ought  to  understand.  I mean 
the  spirit  which  honors  and  reveres  that  which  is 

7 


50 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


over  it  by  the  ordination  of  God,  and  can  even  suf- 
fer and  die  for  it. 

It  was  in  the  spirit  of  such  old-fashioned  loyalties 
that  the  church,  which  was  soon  built  to  relieve  the 
South  Meeting-house  of  its  unwelcome  tenants,  took 
from  the  beginning,  as  a matter  of  course,  the  name 
of  King’s  Chapel.  And  by  a fine  felicity,  as  an 
illustration  how  the  loyalties  which  fitly  belonged 
here  while  we  were  English  subjects  could  be  con- 
tinued on  a higher  plane  and  in  a loftier  key  after 
the  royal  province  became  the  commonwealth  in  the 
great  republic,  the  name  was  continued  after  the  Rev- 
olution in  token  of  loyalty  to  “ the  King  of  Kings.” 

So,  then,  was  set  here  a shoot  of  the  English 
vine ; and  we  who  owe  to  it  the  heritage  of  holy 
and  reverend  usages  and  prayers  made  dear  by 
ancient  devotion,  and  so  much  of  Christian  faith 
and  spiritual  help  for  which  the  church  stands  to 
us,  may  well  be  grateful  and  remember. 

Not  only  the  church  which  was  thus  first  sheltered 
in  the  old  town-house,  but  all  that  family  of  churches 
which  are  descended  from  the  mother  church  of 
England,  may  well  look  upon  that  spot  as  the  cradle 
of  their  faith.  And  more  than  that,  the  fact  should 
be  imperishably  connected  with  that  spot,  that  — 
though  against  the  will  of  New  England  and  by 
some  constraint  of  royal  power  — the  old  town- 
house  was  the  first  spot  where  freedom  of  religious 
worship  was  recognized  as  “ by  authority,”  where 
the  ancient  order  began  to  give  place  to  the  modern 
world. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  5 1 

Our  festival,  then,  will  be  not  merely  the  family 
gathering  of  an  old  historical  parish.  It  commemo- 
rates the  founding  on  New  England  soil  of  the 
church  from  which,  under  God’s  providence,  has 
come  a great  branch  of  the  Christian  Church  in 
America,  in  whose  wide  spread  of  Christian  work, 
in  all  that  it  is  doing  to  make  the  gospel  a power 
of  life  to  this  great  country,  we  may  well  say  with 
the  apostle : “ I therein  do  rejoice ; yea,  and  will 
rejoice.” 

The  planting  of  this  church  was  amid  opposi- 
tion and  bitterness,  and  its  history  for  the  first  cen- 
tury scarred  as  that  of  no  other  church  that  I know 
by  the  controversies,  both  political  and  theological, 
which  marked  that  hundred  years  in  our  American 
history.  It  is  not  to  dwell  upon  that  side  of  the 
story  that  we  shall  hold  our  commemoration.  Yet 
we  remember  it  as  one  honorable  and  memorable, 
and  not  a little  part  of  the  great  history  of  the  land ; 
and  thankful  that  the  shadows  of  old  disputes  and 
alienations  in  that  remote  past  have  so  far  died 
away,  we  reach  forth  to  those  on  the  one  side  or  on 
the  other,  from  whose  fathers  the  forefathers  of  this 
church  were  parted  in  the  earnestness  of  their  loy- 
alty and  the  strength  of  their  conviction,  the  hand 
of  fraternal  good-will,  of  Christian  love  and  mutual 
charity,  praying  that  they  and  we  may  be  builded 
up  in  the  faith  of  our  common  Master,  “ both  theirs 
and  ours.” 

As  Mr.  Greenwood,  half  a century  ago,  spoke  of 
our  predecessors : “ I must  observe  that  if  we  have 


52 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


not  more  truth  we  certainly  have  more  peace  than 
they.  This  is  to  be  attributed  chiefly  to  the  change 
of  our  political  and  ecclesiastical  condition.  . . . 
From  the  very  time  of  our  severance  from  the 
mother  Church  and  the  parent  State  there  has  been 
not  a single  disagreement  . . . from  any  cause,  so 
far  as  I can  learn.  The  words  of  the  prophet  . . . 
sound  like  prophecy  for  us.  ‘ The  glory  of  this 
latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  that  of  the  for- 
mer, saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  in  their  place  will 
I give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.’  So  may  it 
ever  be.  ‘ Peace  be  within  thy  walls  ! — for  my 
brethren  and  companions’  sakes,  I will  wish  thee 
prosperity.’  ” 


1 686 


1886. 

Commemorative  Services 


King’s  Chapel,  Boston, 

UPON  THE 

COMPLETION  OF  TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS. 
Wednesday,  December  15,  1886, 
at  2 P.M. 

TOGETHER  WITH  SOME  HISTORICAL  MEMORIALS. 


Committee  of  Arrangements. 


William  Perkins,  President. 

J.  TEMPLEMAN  COOLIDGE,  3d. 

Greely  S.  Curtis. 

Edward  S.  Grew. 

Thomas  B.  Hall. 

George  Higginson. 

Patrick  T.  Jackson. 

Horace  A.  Lamb. 

Rev.  Henry  W. 


J.  Randolph  Coolidge,  Jr., 

Secretary. 

A.  Lawrence  Lowell. 

Francis  C.  Lowell. 

Thomas  Minns. 

George  R.  Minot. 

Charles  E.  Sampson. 

Roger  Wolcott. 

Foote,  Minister. 


53 


54 


/ 


ORDER  OF  SERVICES. 


II.  ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 
William  Minot,  Esq. 


III.  PSALMS. 

{To  be  read  responsively . ) 

PSALM  XXIV.  — Domini  est  terra. 

The  earth  is  the  Lord’s,  and  the  fulness  thereof ; the  world,  and 
they  that  dwell  therein. 

For  he  hath  founded  it  upon  the  seas,  and  established  it  upon  the 
floods. 


55 


Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord  ? or  who  shall  stand  in 
his  holy  place  ? 

He  that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a pure  heart ; who  hath  not  lifted 
up  his  soul  unto  vanity,  nor  sworn  deceitfully. 

He  shall  receive  the  blessing  from  the  Lord,  and  righteousness 
from  the  God  of  his  salvation 

This  is  the  generation  of  them  that  seek  him,  that  seek  thy  face, 
O Jacob. 

Lift  up  your  heads,  O ye  gates ; and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting 
doors;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 

Who  is  this  King  of  glory?  The  Lord  strong  and  mighty,  the 
Lord  mighty  in  battle. 

Lift  up  your  heads,  O ye  gates  ; even  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting 
doors ; and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 

Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ? The  Lord  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of 
glory.  Amen. 


PSALM  LXXXIV.  — Quarn  dilecta. 

How  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles,  O Lord  of  hosts ! 

My  soul  longeth,  yea,  even  fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord  ; my 
heart  and  my  flesh  crieth  out  for  the  living  God. 

Yea,  the  sparrow  hath  found  an  house,  and  the  swallow  a nest  for 
herself,  where  she  may  lay  her  young,  even  thine  altars,  O Lord  of 
hosts,  my  King  and  my  God. 

Blessed  are  they  that  dwell  in  thy  house:  they  will  be  still  praising 
thee. 

Blessed  is  the  man  whose  strength  is  in  thee ; in  whose  heart  are 
the  ways  of  them. 

Who  passing  through  the  valley  of  Baca  make  it  a well ; the  rain 
also  filleth  the  pools. 

They  go  from  strength  to  strength,  every  one  of  them  in  Zion 
appeareth  before  God. 

O Lord  God  of  hosts,  hear  my  prayer ; give  ear,  O God  of  Jacob. 

Behold,  O God  our  shield,  and  look  upon  the  face  of  thine 
anointed. 

For  a day  in  thy  courts  is  better  than  a thousand.  I had  rather 
be  a doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  my  God,  than  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
wickedness. 

For  the  Lord  God  is  a sun  and  shield : the  Lord  will  give  grace 
and  glory;  no  good  thing  will  he  withhold  from  them  that  walk 
uprightly. 

O Lord  of  hosts,  blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  thee. 

Amen. 

56 


PSALM  CXXII.  — Loetatus  sum. 


I was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  into  the  house  of 
the  Lord. 

Our  feet  shall  stand  within  thy  gates,  O Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem  is  builded  as  a city  that  is  compact  together; 

Whither  the  tribes  go  up,  the  tribes  of  the  Lord,  unto  the  testimony 
of  Israel,  to  give  thanks  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

For  there  are  set  thrones  of  judgment,  the  thrones  of  the  house  of 
David. 

Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem : they  shall  prosper  that  love  thee 

Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and  prosperity  within  thy  palaces. 

For  my  brethren  and  companions’  sakes,  I will  now  say,  Peace  be 
within  thee. 

Because  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God  I will  seek  thy  good. 

Amen . 


IV.  SCRIPTURE  LESSON. 


V.  COLLECTS. 


VI.  PRAYER. 

The  Rev.  Frederick  Augustus  Farley,  D.D.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.' 

VII.  PSALM  LXXXIV. 

« WINCHESTER  TUNE” 

JFrom  ^Iajforti’s  “ ®Sfl)ole  Book  of  psalms, ” 

1613-1 693 . — Various  Editions. 

PSALM  LXXXIV. 

1.  How  pleasant  is  thy  dwelling  place, 

O Lord,  of  hosts,  to  me  ! 

The  tabernacles  of  thy  grace, 
how  pleasant,  Lord,  they  be  ! 

2.  My  soul  doth  long  full  sore  to  go 

into  thy  courts  abroad : 

My  heart  and  flesh  cry  out  also 
for  thee  the  living  God. 

3.  For  why  ? within  thy  courts  one  day 

is  better  to  abide, 

Than  other-where  to  keep  or  stay 
a thousand  days  beside. 

4.  Much  rather  had  I keep  a door 

within  the  house  of  God, 

Than  in  the  tents  of  wickedness 
to  settle  my  abode. 

8 


57 


5.  For  God  the  Lord,  light  and  defence 

will  grace  and  glory  give  ; 

And  no  good  thing  will  he  with-hold 
from  them  that  purely  live. 

6.  O Lord  of  hosts,  that  man  is  blest, 

and  happy  sure  is  he, 

That  is  persuaded  in  his  breast 
to  trust  all  times  in  thee. 


VIII.  ADDRESSES. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Wilder  Foote,  the  Minister. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
George  Dexter  Robinson,  LL.D. 


IX.  HYMN. 

William  Everett,  Ph.  D. 

To  be  sung  by  the  Congregation  to  the  tune  of  St.  Thomas.  {By  request .) 

Come  to  thy  house,  O King ! 

To  thee  thy  people  kneel ; 

Accept  the  homage  that  they  bring, 

And  all  thy  grace  reveal. 

For  ten  score  years  this  ground 
Service  and  song  hath  known, 

From  hearts  that  sought  thee  in  the  sound 
Of  worship  all  their  own. 

The  ancient  and  the  new, 

The  ordered  and  the  free, 

The  elders’  trust,  the  prophets*  view, 

Blend  in  our  rites  to  thee. 

And  still  let  age  to  age, 

Through  triumph  and  through  loss, 

Walk  by  that  pure  and  hallowed  page, 

Dear  Saviour,  to  thy  cross. 

Bind  by  thy  gospel’s  tie 
The  future  to  the  past, 

And,  as  the  fathers’  earliest  cry, 

Hear  thou  the  children’s  last. 


58 


X.  ADDRESSES. 


The  Rev.  George  Edward  Ellis,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

President  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

The  Rev.  George  Angier  Gordon,  Minister  of  the  Old  South  Church. 


XI.  PSALM  XXIII. 

“YORK  TUNE” 

Taken  from  “A  very  plain  and  easy  Introduction  to  the  Art  of  Singing  Psalm  Tunes. 
By  Rev.  John  Tufts,  of  the  Second  Church.  Newbury,  1712.” 

jfrom  patter’s  “ 3Psaltertum  &mertcanum.” 

The  Book  of  Psalms,  in  a Translation  Exactly  conformed  unto  the  Original, 
but  all  in  Blank  Verse,  fitted  unto  the  Tunes  commonly  used  in  our 
Churches.  Boston  : in  N.  E.  1718. 

1.  My  Shepherd  is  th’  Eternal  God ; ||  I shall  not  be  in  (QVu^)  want : || 

2.  In  pastures  of  a tender  grass  ||  He  (dnucr)  makes  me  to  lie  down  : || 

To  waters  of  tranquillities  ||  He  gently  carries  me,  (QUoncj.)  || 

3.  My  feeble  and  my  wandermg  Soul  ||  He  (Einblp)  does  fetch  back 

again  ; ||  In  the  plain  paths  of  righteousness  ||  He  does  lead 
(2lnb  guibc)  me  along,  ||  because  of  the  regard  He  has  ||  (Qfuer) 
unto  His  Glorious  Name.  || 

4.  Yea,  when  I shall  walk  in  the  Vale  ||  of  the  dark  (bismal)  shade  of 

Death,  ||  I ’ll  of  no  evil  be  afraid,  ||  because  thou  (eticr)  art 
with  me.  ||  Thy  rod  and  thy  staff,  these  are  what  ||  yield  (con- 
stant) comfort  unto  me. 

5.  A table  thou  dost  furnish  out  i|  richly  (for  nte)  before  my  face.  || 

’T  is  in  view  of  mine  Enemies ; ||  (2tnb  tljetl)  my  head  thou  dost 
anoint  ||  with  fatning  and  perfuming  Oil : ||  my  cup  it  (ctJCt) 
overflows.  || 

6.  Most  certainly  the  thing  that  is  ||  Good,  with  (most  kinb)  Benig- 

nity, ||  This  all  the  days  that  I do  live  ||  shall  (still  anb)  ever 
follow  me ; ||  Yea,  I shall  dwell,  and  Sabbatize,  ||  even  to 
(nnknoum)  length  of  days,  ||  Lodg'd  in  the  House  which  does 
belong  ||  to  ($im  ttdjo ’s)  the  Eternal  God.  || 


59 


XII.  ADDRESSES. 

Charles  William  Eliot,  LL.D.,  President  of  Harvard  University. 
The  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church. 


XIII.  MAGNIFICAT  IN  F. 
(B.  Tours.) 


XIV.  ADDRESS. 

The  Rev.  John  Hopkins  Morison,  D.D< 


XV.  HYMN. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L. 

{To  be  sung  by  the  Congregation  to  the  tune  of  Tallis’s  Evening  Hymn.) 

O’ershadowed  by  the  walls  that  climb, 

Piled  up  in  air  by  living  hands, 

A rock  amid  the  waves  of  time, 

Our  grey  old  house  of  worship  stands. 

High  o’er  the  pillared  aisles  we  love 
The  symbols  of  the  past  look  down  ; 

Unharmed,  unharming,  throned  above, 

Behold  the  mitre  and  the  crown  ! 

Let  not  our  younger  faith  forget 

The  loyal  souls  that  held  them  dear ; 

The  prayers  we  read  their  tears  have  wet, 

The  hymns  we  sing  they  loved  to  hear. 

The  memory  of  their  earthly  throne 
Still  to  our  holy  temple  clings, 

But  here  the  kneeling  suppliants  own 
One  only  Lord,  the  King  of  kings. 

Hark  ! while  our  hymn  of  grateful  praise 
The  solemn  echoing  vaults  prolong, 

The  far-off  voice  of  earlier  days 

Blends  with  our  own  in  hallowed  song : 

To  Him  who  ever  lives  and  reigns, 

Whom  all  the  hosts  of  Heaven  adore, 

Who  lent  the  life  His  breath  sustains, 

Be  glory  now  and  evermore ! 


60 


XVI.  ADDRESS. 


The  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  D.D., 
Minister  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples. 


XVII.  POEM. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L. 


XVIII.  ANTHEM. 

(Handel,  1685-1759.) 

Their  bodies  are  buried  in  peace,  but  their  name  liveth  evermore. 


XIX.  ADDRESSES. 

The  Rev.  Andrew  Preston  Peabody,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Plummer  Professor  Emeritus  in  Harvard  University. 

The  Rev.  Francis  Greenwood  Peabody, 
Plummer  Professor  in  Harvard  University. 


XX.  ANTHEM. 

(Arthur  S.  Sullivan.) 

Who  is  like  unto  thee,  O Lord  ? Who  is  like  thee,  glorious  in  holi- 
ness, fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders  ? 

Thou  in  thy  mercy  hast  led  forth  the  people  which  thou  hast  re- 
deemed. 

Thou  shalt  bring  them  in,  and  plant  them  in  the  mountain  of  thine 
inheritance,  in  the  place,  O Lord,  which  thou  hast  made  for  thee  to 
dwell  in,  in  the  Sanctuary,  O Lord,  which  thy  hands  have  established. 

The  Lord  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 

Sing  ye  to  the  Lord  ! Hallelujah ! Amen. 


XXI.  BENEDICTION. 

The  Rev.  John  Cordner,  LL.D. 


PORTRAITS,  FLAGS,  AND  ARMS. 


The  portraits  of  Royal  Governors  and  others  connected  with 
King’s  Chapel  have  been  kindly  loaned  by  the  Commonwealth  ; the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society;  the  Misses  Loring;  and  Mrs. 
George  R.  Minot. 


The  flags  employed  in  the  decoration  of  the  interior  are  the  Brit- 
ish flags  of  1686-1776  ; the  flag  of  New  England  under  Governor 
Andros  ; the  flag  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  previous  to 
1700;  the  Pine-Tree  flag  carried  at  the  Siege  of  Louisburg ; Patriot 
flags  and  flags  of  the  Revolution,  ending  with  the  first  American  flag. 
The  exterior  decoration  is  a combination  of  several  of  these  flags. 


The  Coats  of  Arms  represented  on  the  escutcheons  are  copies  of 
those  of  persons  belonging  to  the  Parish  of  King’s  Chapel  in  the  pre- 
Revolutionary  period,  most  of  them  having  at  that  time  been  placed 
in  the  church.  They  are  those  of  — 

1.  His  Honor  Sir  Francis  Nicholson,  Knt.,  Lieutenant-Governor. 

2.  His  Excellency  Joseph  Dudley,  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief. 

3.  His  Excellency  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  Knt.,  Governor  and  Commander- 

in-Chief. 

4.  His  Excellency  William  Burnet,  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief. 

5.  The  Foxcroft  Family. 

6.  His  Excellency  Jonathan  Belcher,  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief. 

7.  The  Mountfort  Family. 

8.  His  Excellency  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  Governor  and  Commander-in- 

Chief. 

9.  His  Excellency  William  Shirley,  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief. 

10.  His  Excellency  Thomas  Pownall,  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief. 

11.  The  Checkley  Family. 

12.  His  Excellency  Colonel  Samuel  Shute,  Governor  and  Commander-in- 

Chief. 

13.  The  Rev.  Roger  Price,  Rector  of  King’s  Chapel  and  Commissary  of  the 

Lord  Bishop  of  London. 

14.  Capt.  Francis  Hamilton  of  His  Majesty’s  Ship  of  War  Kingfisher. 


The  Royal  Escutcheon  hung  upon  the  front  of  the  pulpit  is  the 
same  which,  until  the  Revolution,  was  placed  over  the  door  of  the 
Province  House,  and  is  the  property  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society. 

62 


PLACES  OF  WORSHIP. 


HE  first  administration  of  the  Prayers  and  Ordinances  of  the 


Church  of  England  was  in  the  old  Town  House,  May  30,  1686. 
The  first  meeting  for  organization  was  on  June  15,  and  the  first  ad- 
ministration of  the  Lord’s  Supper  was  on  August  2,  1686.  Occupancy 
of  the  South  Meeting-House,  March  25,  1687  to  1689.  First  King’s 
Chapel,  built  of  wood,  and  opened  for  service  June  30,  1689,  was  known 
as  “ Queen’s  Chapel  ” during  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.  Present  church 
erected  1754. 

The  first  royal  Governor  connected  with  the  church  was  Sir  Ed- 
mund Andros,  Knt.  Eight  of  his  successors  have  worshipped  here, 
occupying  the  Governor’s  pew  as  representatives  of  the  Crown, — 
Joseph  Dudley,  Samuel  Shute,  William  Burnet,  Jonathan 
Belcher,  William  Shirley,  Thomas  Pownall,  Sir  Francis  Ber- 
nard, Bart.,  and  General  Gage.  The  first  service  after  the  evacu- 
ation of  Boston  by  the  British  troops  in  1776  was  the  funeral  of 
General  Joseph  Warren,  whose  body  was  brought  from  Bunker  Hill. 
The  congregation  worshipped  with  Trinity  Church  during  the ‘Revolu- 
tionary War,  permitting  the  Old  South  Church  and  Society  to  use 
King’s  Chapel  from  1777  to  1782.  The  liturgy  was  altered  from  that 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  1785. 


63 


ROLL  OF  MINISTERS  AND  KING’S  LECTURERS 
OF  KING’S  CHAPEL. 


NAME.  INDUCTED. 

DIED  OR 
REMOVED, 

Robert  Ratcliffe,  Rector 

1686 

. 

1689 

Josiah  Clarke,  Assistant 

1686 

. 

Samuel  Myles,  Rector 

1689 

. 

1728 

George  Hatton,  Assistant 

1693 

. 

1696 

Christopher  Bridge,  Queen's  Lecturer  . . . 

1699 

. 

1706 

Henry  Harris,  King's  Lecturer 

1709 

. 

1729 

Roger  Price,  Rector  and  Bishop's  Commissary  . 

1729 

. 

1746 

Thomas  Harward,  Kings  Lecturer  .... 

1731 

. 

1736 

Addington  Davenport,  King's  Lecturer  . . . 

1737 

. 

1740 

Stephen  Roe,  Assistant 

1741 

. 

1744 

Henry  Caner,  D.D.,  Rector 

1747 

• 

1 776 

Charles  Brockwell,  King's  Lecturer . . . . 

1747 

. 

1755 

John  Troutbeck,  Kings  Lecturer 

1755 

. 

1775 

James  Freeman,  Reader 

1782 

. 

James  Freeman,  D.D.,  Rector  and  Minister  . . 

1 787 

. 

I836 

Samuel  Cary,  Associate  Minister 

1809 

. 

1815 

Francis  William  Pitt  Greenwood,  Asso- 
ciate Minister 

1824 

Francis  William  Pitt  Greenwood,  D.  D., 
Rector  and  Minister 

1836 

1843 

Ephraim  Peabody,  D.D.,  Minister 

1845 

. 

I856 

Henry  Wilder  Foote,  Minister 

1861 

. 

jFfrst  (Eimrcf)  ©SlarTiens. 

Benjamin  Bullivant.  Richard  Bankes. 


WARDENS  AND  VESTRY.  1886-1887. 


ARTHUR  T.  LYMAN,  ) 

> Wardens. 

CHARLES  P.  CURTIS,) 

A.  LAWRENCE  LOWELL,  Treasurer. 
WILLIAM  PERKINS. 

PHILIP  H.  SEARS. 

JOHN  REVERE .* 

GEORGE  HIGGINSON. 

PATRICK  T.  JACKSON. 


GEORGE  C.  RICHARDSON  * 
JOHN  W.  WHEELWRIGHT. 
GREELY  S.  CURTIS. 

THOMAS  B.  HALL. 

ROBERT  H.  STEVENSON. 

J.  RANDOLPH  COOLIDGE,  Jr. 
ROGER  WOLCOTT. 


64 


* Died  1886. 


THE  COMMUNION  PLATE 


HE  ancient  Communion  Plate  of  King’s  Chapel  was  the  gift  of 


the  following  Kings  : William  and  Mary,  George  II.,  George 
III.  A portion  of  it  was  given  by  the  Church  before  the  Revolution 
to  other  parishes  of  the  Church  of  England,  on  receiving  later  royal 
gifts.  But  that  which  was  carried  away  by  the  last  royalist  rector  on 
the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British  troops  in  March,  1776,  amounted 
to  twenty-eight  hundred  ounces  of  silver.  The  present  Plate  is  the 
gift  of  members  of  the  Church  at  different  times,  subsequently.  Among 
the  pieces  are  the  following  : — 

1.  A Flagon.  “ King’s  Chapel,  1798.” 

2.  A Christening  Basin.  “ King’s  Chapel,  The  Gift  of  Ebenezer 
Oliver,  Esqr\  1798.” 

3.  A Salver.  “ King’s  Chapel,  1798.  This  plate  was  given  me  at 
my  birth  by  my  Grand  Father,  Nathl-  Cary,  Esqr-  ” 

4.  Two  Offertory  Plates.  “To  King’s  Chapel,  Easter,  1829. 
From  Joseph  May,  of  Boston.” 

5.  Two  Patens.  “To  King’s  Chapel,  1798.  From  Madam  Bul- 

FINCH.” 

6.  Two  Cups.  “To  King’s  Chapel,  Boston.  From  Mrs.  Catha- 
rine COOLIDGE.” 

7.  Plate.  “ Presented  to  King’s  Chapel  by  John  L.  Gardner, 
1 868.” 

8.  A Silver  Cross,  very  richly  wrought,  from  James  W.  Paige. 

9.  A large  and  richly  wrought  Cup  and  Salver,  the  gift  of  many 
friends  to  the  Rev.  James  Walker,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  on  his  eightieth 
birthday,  bequeathed  by  him  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
of  New  York,  in  1874,  and  by  him  presented  to  King’s  Chapel  for 
communion  use. 

10.  The  handsome  Communion  Service  which  formerly  belonged  to 
the  New  North  Church  in  Boston  (founded  in  1714).  This  service 
consists  of  Ten  Tankards  and  Cups,  Two  Flagons,  and  One  Chris- 
tening Basin,  and  was  “ Given  to  King’s  Chapel,  Boston,  by  a few 
members  of  the  Congregation,  Easter,  1872,”  having  been  purchased 
by  them  on  its  sale  in  consequence  of  the  dissolution  of  that  ancient 
society.  These  pieces  bear  the  coats-of-arms  of  the  original  donors 
and  other  inscriptions.  Among  the  oldest  is  a Tankard,  inscribed, 
“Given  by  Deacon  John  Burnett  to  ye  New  North  Church  1714.” 


9 


CHOIR 


Organist  and  Musical  Director:  JOHN  W.  TUFTS. 


Sopranos. 


tenors. 


Miss  GERTRUDE  FRANKLIN* 

Miss  LOUISE  ELLIOTT. 

Miss  ELENE  BUFFINGTON  KEHEW. 


Mr.  J.  C.  BARTLETT.* 

Mr.  GEORGE  J.  PARKER. 
Mr.  GEORGE  W.  WANT. 


mitos. 


Basses. 


Mrs.  E.  C.  FENDERSON* 
Miss  GERTRUDE  EDMANDS. 
Miss  HARRIET  A.  WHITING. 


Dr.  C.  W.  GODDARD  * 
Mr.  J.  K.  BERRY. 

Mr.  H.  T.  REMICK. 


* Of  the  regular  Choir. 


USHERS. 


FRANCIS  BULLARD. 
JOHN  G.  COOLIDGE. 
CHARLES  P.  CURTIS,  Jr. 
WILLIAM  ENDICOTT,  3d. 
Dr.  JOHN  HOMANS,  2D. 
ARTHUR  LYMAN. 
HERBERT  LYMAN. 


EDWARD  B.  ROBINS. 
RICHARD  SEARS. 

LEMUEL  STANWOOD. 
CHARLES  D.  TURNBULL. 
ARTHUR  W.  WHEELWRIGHT. 
ELLERTON  P.  WHITNEY. 

W.  POWER  WILSON. 


66 


COMMEMORATIVE  SERVICES 

BY 

KING’S  CHAPEL,  BOSTON, 

Upon  tfje  Completion  of  Cfoo  J^unbreti  gears. 


Wednesday,  Dec.  15,  1886. 


COMMEMORATIVE  SERVICES. 


THE  decoration  of  King’s  Chapel,  both  exterior  and 
interior,  for  the  occasion,  was  designed  with  the 
purpose  of  making  everything  employed  illustrative  of  the 
unique  and  historic  significance  of  the  church.  On  the 
outside  of  the  Chapel,  over  the  front  porch  on  the  face  of 
the  tower  behind  the  colonnade,  was  a tablet  (six  feet  six 
inches  by  three  feet  six  inches)  surrounded  by  six  colonial 
and  patriot  flags,  extended  over  the  main  door  and  upon 
the  walls  on  either  side,  — a total  width  of  eighteen  feet. 
A large  palm-leaf,  painted  a dead  green,  extended  across 
the  tablet,  upon  which  in  a ribbon  was  written  “ King’s 
Chapel,  1686-1886.” 


70 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


The  flags,  beginning  at  the  left  hand,  were : First,  the 
sea-colors  of  New  England  in  use  as  early  as  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century;  the  British  Union  of  1707;  the 
Pine-Tree  flag  of  New  England;  the  Grand-Union  flag, 
first  raised  by  Washington  at  the  camp  at  Cambridge  on 
Jan.  1,  1776 ; another  early  flag  of  New  England  ; and  the 
flag  of  New  England  sent  by  King  James  the  Second  with 
Governor  Andros  in  1686. 

The  interior  decorations  consisted  of  portraits  of  Royal 
Governors  and  others  ; of  twenty-four  Colonial  and  Revo- 
lutionary flags  ; of  the  coats-of-arms  of  the  Governors  and 
of  other  distinguished  persons.  The  Governor’s  pew  was 
restored,  its  dimensions  remaining  clearly  outlined  on  the 
plaster  ceiling,  and  its  shape  given  by  a drawing  from 
memory  by  Miss  Sarah  H.  Clarke. 

The  galleries  of  the  Chapel  are  supported  by  eight 
Corinthian  columns  in  pairs,  which  continue  to  the 
ceiling.  On  the  bases  of  these  columns  were  placed  the 
portraits  of  several  of  the  Royal  Governors  and  of  some 
noted  persons  who  worshipped  at  King’s  Chapel,  in  the 
following  order : — 

Rebecca,  wife  of  Governor  Joseph  Dudley. 

Governor  Joseph  Dudley. 

Governor  Burnet. 

Governor  Belcher,  painted  by  F.  Liopoldt  in  1729,  in  London. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Dummer,  said  by  tradition  to  have  been 
painted  by  Lely  or  Kneller. 

Governor  Hutchinson,  painted  by  Edward  Truman  in  1741. 

Governor  Pownall,  a copy,  painted  by  Pratt,  of  the  original 
portrait. 

Peter  Faneuil,  painted  by  Smybert. 

Rev.  James  Freeman,  pastor  of  King’s  Chapel  1787-1836, 
painted  by  Guliger. 

These  portraits  were  kindly  loaned  by  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  Governor 
Burnet,  which  hangs  in  the  senate-chamber  at  the  State 


* The  escutcheons  marked  with  an  asterisk  are  known  to  have  hung  in  the  first  wooden  King’s  Chapel. 


Iffil 


ARMS  OF  BELCHER.' 


PRICE  COAT-OF-ARMS. 


ARMS  OF  SHIRLEY. 


ARMS  OF  BELLOMONT* 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


71 


House ; that  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Dummer,  belong- 
ing to  the  Misses  Loring ; and  that  of  the  Rev.  James 
Freeman,  belonging  to  the  family  of  the  late  Mr.  George 
Richards  Minot.  It  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  obtain 
portraits  of  some  persons  pre-eminently  associated  with  our 
history,  — as  Governors  Andros  and  Shirley,  — while  some 
of  those  represented  were  only  placed  here  officially,  and 
not  as  worshipping  here  ; but  it  was  felt  that  they  might 
properly  be  admitted  as  types  of  the  period  to  which  they 
belonged. 

Upon  the  columns,  directly  over  the  portraits,  were  hung 
the  escutcheons  containing  the  coats-of-arms  of  the  Gover- 
nors and  of  other  persons  connected  with  the  Chapel  pre- 
vious to  the  Revolution.  The  originals  of  most  of  these 
coats-of-arms  were  hung  in  the  first,  wooden  Chapel.  Be- 
ginning on  the  left  hand  with  the  arms  of  his  Honor  Sir 
Francis  Nicholson,  Knight,  Lieutenant-Governor,  as  in 
the  list  on  the  programme,  the  series  ended  on  the  right 
hand  with  those  of  Captain  Francis  Hamilton,  of  His 
Majesty’s  ship-of-war  “Kingfisher,”  in  1687. 

The  front  of  the  galleries  is  ornamented  with  raised 
panels,  three  between  each  set  of  columns,  — twenty-four 
in  all.  Each  of  these  panels  contained  a Colonial  or  a 
Revolutionary  flag,  beginning  with  the  Cross  of  St.  George, 
and  ending  with  the  first  American  flag  unfurled  at  the 
battle  of  Brandywine,  September,  1777.  Among  them  was 
the  flag  of  New  England  under  Andros ; the  flag  of  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  previous  to  1700;  the  blue 
flag  with  the  crescent  raised  on  Fort  Sullivan  by  Moultrie 
in  1775  ; the  Pine-Tree  flag  of  New  England  ; the  yellow 
field,  with  the  coiled  rattlesnake,  — a flag  often  carried  by 
the  Patriots,  and  a favorite  ornament  on  their  drum-heads  ; 
the  rattlesnake  flag,  with  the  motto  “ Don’t  tread  on  me,” 
used  by  Paul  Jones  ; a pine-tree  flag,  with  rattlesnake 
coiled  at  its  roots,  — the  flag  hoisted  by  the  Massachusetts 
State  cruisers ; the  Beaver  flag,  used  by  the  merchants  of 


72 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


New  York  before  the  Revolution  ; the  Grand-Union  flag 
of  1776;  and  a Revolutionary  flag  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  portraits,  escutcheons,  and  flags  were  connected  by 
a double  garland  of  laurel. 

The  reading-desk  was  enveloped  in  a British  flag  ; and 
the  front  of  the  organ  loft  was  draped  with  large  banners, 
representing  the  Lion  of  St.  Andrew  on  a yellow  ground, 
the  pre-Revolutionary  flags  of  New  England,  and  the 
British  Union  Jack. 

On  the  restored  Governor’s  pew  was  placed  the  ancient 
crown  from  the  top  of  the  organ.  In  front  of  the  pulpit 
hung  the  carved  tablet  bearing  the  Royal  Arms  of  England 
which  formerly  hung  over  the  door  of  the  old  Province 
House,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society.  On  the  communion-table,  beneath  the 
windows  of  Munich  glass  which  the  late  Mr.  John  Amory 
Lowell  gave  to  the  church,  was  spread  the  church  sil- 
ver, — embracing  various  pieces  given  by  members  of  the 
parish  in  the  last  century,  the  beautiful  memorial  pieces 
of  President  James  Walker,  and  the  rich  communion 
service  formerly  belonging  to  the  New  North  Church, 
which  was,  on  the  dissolution  of  that  ancient  parish  in 
1873,  bought  and  presented  to  King’s  Chapel  by  mem- 
bers of  our  congregation. 

The  Committee  feel  that  the  parish  owe  a special  obliga- 
tion to  Mr.  J.  Templeman  Coolidge,  3d,  for  the  thorough 
care  and  artistic  perfection  with  which  the  whole  plan  of 
decoration  was  arranged  by  him,  and  carried  out  in  every 
detail,  under  his  personal,  supervision,  by  Messrs.  Savory 
and  Son  and  Messrs.  Lamprell  and  Marble. 

The  Committee  were  also  much  indebted  to  Mr.  Robert 
S.  Peabody,  a son  of  the  former  minister  of  the  church,  for 
supervising  the  reconstruction  of  the  old  Governor’s  pew 
as  it  existed  down  to  the  year  1824. 

Wednesday,  December  15,  had  been  selected  for  these 
services,  as  being  the  day  of  the  month,  though  not  the 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


73 


month  itself,  on  which  the  exact  anniversary  of  the  first 
organization  of  the  King’s  Chapel  fell,  the  first  meeting 
having  been  held  June  15,  the  second  July  4,  and  the 
first  communion  service  on  the  second  Sabbath  in  August. 
It  being  impossible  in  the  summer  season  to  gather  to- 
gether all  whom  it  was  desirable  to  have  take  part  in  our 
celebration,  it  was  thought  best  to  appoint  the  recollection 
of  all  these  days  at  this  later  date.  The  weather  was  most 
propitious,  — a clear,  moderate,  bright  December  day, 
though  preceded  and  followed  by  days  of  storm.  Eleven 
hundred  and  fifty  tickets  had  been  issued,  and  the  church 
was  thronged  in  every  part.  The  arrangements  for  seating 
the  audience  were  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Roger  Wolcott, 
assisted  by  twelve  young  men  of  the  parish.  The  chancel 
was  filled  with  seats  for  the  occasion,  which  were  occupied 
by  the  clerical  speakers,  and  by  many  other  prominent 
clergymen  of  the  city,  of  different  denominations.  The 
Governor’s  pew  as  restored  was  occupied  by  his  Excel- 
lency the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  his  Honor  the 
Lieutenant-Governor,  his  Honor  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of 
Boston,  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  University,  and  Dr. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  — the  speakers  being  conducted 
from  that  pew  to  the  reading-desk  to  make  their  addresses. 
The  services  began  at  two  of  the  clock,  and  were  intently 
listened  to  by  the  large  audience  to  their  close  at  twenty 
minutes  before  six. 

The  gentlemen  invited  to  make  addresses  were  selected 
as  representing  various  historical  associations  of  the  church, 
or  as  being  themselves  in  different  ways  connected  with  it. 
A descendant  in  the  sixth  generation  of  one  of  the  original 
subscribers  to  build  the  first  wooden  church  in  1689  pre- 
sided. The  religious  services  were  conducted  by  the  min- 
ister, together  with  the  son  of  the  revered  Dr.  Ephraim 
Peabody,  and  the  grandson  and  namesake  of  one  of  the 
most  honored  wardens  of  the  church  in  a former  genera- 
tion, Col.  Joseph  May.  The  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Farley,  D.D., 


10 


74 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  the  Rev.  Thatcher  Thayer,  D.D., 
of  Newport,  R.  I.,  who  were  both  baptized  by  Dr.  Free- 
man, and  are  among  the  oldest  living  descendants  of  the 
church,  had  also  been  invited  to  take  part  in  the  services, 
but  were  unable  to  be  present.  The  Governor  of  the 
Commonwealth  fitly  spoke  as  the  successor  of  eight  of  his 
pre-Revolutionary  predecessors,  and  of  Governor  Gore, 
who  all  worshipped  here.  The  President  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society  also  represented  the  First  Church, 
the  mother  of  the  religious  life  of  Boston.  The  connection 
of  the  Old  South  Church  and  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  with  the  first  hundred  years  of  our  history  gave  a 
peculiar  fitness  to  the  addresses  of  the  minister  of  the  Old 
South  Church  and  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church  ; and  the 
remaining  speakers  had  equally  significant  reason  for  taking 
part  in  the  services,  — Dr.  Holmes  and  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Pea- 
body being  members  of  the  present  parish,  while  not  only 
the  honored  ministry  but  even  the  names  of  the  ministers 
during  the  second  century,  Drs.  Freeman,  Greenwood,  and 
Ephraim  Peabody,  were  recalled  by  those  who  spoke.  To 
these  should  be  added  the  name  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Cary, 
colleague  minister  from  1808  to  1815,  a fitting  tribute  to 
whose  memory  is  given  in  the  letter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Farley. 

The  music  was  arranged  to  show  the  progression  from 
the  English  church-music  in  use  at  the  time  of  the  foun- 
dation of  King’s  Chapel,  and  that  in  use  in  the  Puritan 
meeting-houses  of  New  England  at  about  the  same  period, 
to  the  rich  anthems  of  modern  church-music.  With  the 
two  beautiful  hymns  kindly  written  for  this  occasion,  in 
the  singing  of  which  the  whole  congregation  joined,  the 
music  was  exquisitely  rendered  by  a choir  of  twelve  voices. 
The  whole  was  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  John  W.  Tufts, 
the  organist  and  musical  director  of  the  church,  to  whose 
care  much  of  the  success  was  due. 

In  the  evening  a reception  was  held  for  the  parish  at  the 
house  of  Mrs.  George  Baty  Blake,  3 7 Beacon  Street, 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  75 

which  was  attended  by  many  members  of  the  parish  and 
by  some  other  friends. 

Nearly  six  hundred  letters  were  received  by  the  Com- 
mittee from  invited  guests  and  others,  a portion  of  which 
will  be  found  in  the  Correspondence. 

The  services  opened  with  an  Organ  Voluntary,  followed 
by  the  Address  of  Welcome. 

ADDRESS. 

BY  WILLIAM  MINOT,  ESQ. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen, — It  is  my  pleasant 
office  to  welcome  you,  on  behalf  of  the  congrega- 
tion of  King’s  Chapel,  to  the  memorial  celebration 
of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  founda- 
tion of  this  church.  We  gather  here  to  renew  our 
memories  of  the  wise  and  gifted  men  who  for  two 
centuries,  through  all  social  and  political  changes 
and  vicissitudes,  have  instructed  the  faith  and  pro- 
moted the  piety  of  the  numerous  generations  of 
their  parishioners. 

We  keep  with  affectionate  interest  the  birthdays 
of  those  we  love.  How  much  more  should  we 
hallow  the  birth-year  of  our  church,  which  for  so 
many  generations  has  dispensed  the  abiding  hope, 
the  steadfast  faith,  the  unfailing  charity  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion ! 

How  manifold  are  the  associations  with  the  build- 
ing! The  King’s  Chapel!  That  name  alone  is  a 
monument,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  mon- 
uments. It  spans  the  two  centuries  which  mark 
the  departure  from  the  divine  right  of  kings  in 


76 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


Church  and  State  to  the  present  happy  period  of 
absolute  political  and  religious  freedom. 

How  much  toward  this  great  movement  has  been 
contributed  by  the  eminent  divines  who  have  been 
pastors  of  this  church,  is  a large  part  of  the  story  to 
be  told  us  to-day.  If  hero-worship  is  ever  permis- 
sible, it  is  of  these  laborers  for  the  truth  and  work- 
ers for  salvation,  whose  spirits,  we  may  fondly  hope, 
join  with  us  to-day  in  this  renewed  dedication  of 
this  sacred  home  of  their  highest  earthly  labors. 

Let  us,  therefore,  in  this  belief  begin  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  occasion  with  those  venerable  words  of 
praise  and  prayer  which  for  two  hundred  years  have 
so  comforted  and  strengthened  the  hearts  of  the 
children  of  men  when  gathered  under  this  roof. 

The  Minister  of  the  church  then  said  : — 

“ The  Lord  is  in  His  holy  temple.  Let  all  the 
earth  keep  silence  before  Him.” 

He  also  read,  the  congregation  responding,  Psalms  xxiv., 
Domini  est  terra;  lxxxiv.,  Quam  dilecta ; cxxii.,  Loetatus 
sum. 

Rev.  Francis  Greenwood  Peabody,  Plummer  Professor 
of  Christian  Morals  in  Harvard  University,  then  read  the 
Scripture  lesson  from  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  First  Book 
of  the  Kings,  verses  12-18,  20,  22,  23,  26-30,  33-36,  54-60. 
After  which  the  Minister  of  the  church  read  collects  and 
offered  prayer.1 

1 In  this  part  of  the  service  he  took  the  place  of  the  Rev.  Fred- 
erick Augustus  Farley,  D.D.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  one  of  the 
oldest  surviving  children  of  the  church,  who  was  prevented  from 
being  present. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


77 


Minister . The  Lord  be  with  you. 

Response . And  with  thy  spirit. 

Let  us  pray  : — 

Lord  of  all  power  and  might,  who  art  the  author 
and  giver  of  all  good  things ; graft  in  our  hearts 
the  love  of  Thy  name,  increase  in  us  true  religion, 
nourish  us  with  all  goodness,  and  of  Thy  great 
mercy  keep  us  in  the  same,  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

O Lord,  we  beseech  Thee  mercifully  to  receive 
the  prayers  of  Thy  people  who  call  upon  Thee ; 
and  grant  that  they  may  both  perceive  and  know 
what  things  they  ought  to  do,  and  also  may  have 
grace  and  power  faithfully  to  fulfil  the  same,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

O Lord,  we  beseech  Thee  to  encourage  the 
hearts  of  Thy  faithful  people,  that  they,  always 
relying  on  Thy  power  and  trusting  in  Thy  grace, 
may  bring  forth  plenteously  the  fruit  of  good  works, 
and  of  Thee  be  plenteously  rewarded,  both  in  the 
world  which  now  is,  and  that  which  is  to  come, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

O Almighty  God,  who  hast  knit  together  Thine 
elect,  in  one  communion  and  fellowship,  in  the  mys- 
tical body  of  the  Son  Christ  our  Lord ; grant  us 
grace  so  to  follow  Thy  blessed  saints  in  all  virtuous 
and  godly  living,  that  we  may  come  to  those  un- 
speakable joys  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  those 


78  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

who  unfeignedly  love  Thee,  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

O God,  who  hast  built  the  living  temple  of  Thy 
Church  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
Prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief 
Corner-stone ; grant  unto  the  work  of  Thine  own 
hands  continual  increase  of  glory  and  spiritual 
strength,  and  daily  make  Thy  people  more  meet 
for  the  eternal  tabernacle  of  Thy  rest  in  the 
heavens,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

Almighty  and  most  merciful  God,  our  Heavenly 
Father,  gather  us  into  the  sanctuary  of  Thy  holy 
presence,  and  fill  our  rejoicing  with  Divine  joy  and 
with  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding.  In  the 
house  that  the  fathers  builded  to  Thee,  the  chil- 
dren’s children  still  look  to  Thee  for  Thy  faithful 
blessing,  still  trust  in  Thy  continuing  mercies,  and 
pray  in  the  Name  which  is  above  every  name  for 
Thy  pardon  and  Thy  peace. 

We  bless  Thee  for  all  pure  and  acceptable  wor- 
ship which  has  kindled  its  flame  on  this  altar,  for 
every  faithful  word  of  Thy  servants,  and  every  sacri- 
fice of  consecrated  hearts.  We  praise  Thee  for  the 
sure  witness  of  one  generation  to  another,  testifying 
of  Thy  goodness  and  bearing  the  fruit  of  the  gospel 
in  lives  renewed  by  Thy  grace.  Make  us  to  be  par- 
takers with  those  who  have  gone  before,  in  the  great 
gift  of  the  life  immortal,  and  members  of  the  Church 
of  the  first-born,  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven ; 
and  beyond  this  earthly  tabernacle  grant  us  to  look 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  79 

for  that  building  of  God,  the  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 

For  this  church  we  invoke  Thy  consecrating 
Spirit,  to  renew  it  in  the  love  and  following  of  Thy 
blessed  Son.  We  pray  for  the  Church  Universal, 
and  for  all  who  break  to  it  the  bread  of  life.  At 
this  time,  as  in  duty  bound,  we  pray  for  our  Mother- 
Country  and  for  her  Queen ; for  this  land  and  Com- 
monwealth, and  for  those  who  are  set  over  us  in 
authority,  — that  rulers  may  rule  in  Thy  fear,  and 
that  the  hearts  of  Thy  faithful  people  may  be  kept 
in  godly  quietness. 

So  grant  that  not  alone  the  holy  places  where 
Thine  honor  dwelleth,  but  the  wide  earth  may 
come  to  be  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  the 
gate  of  heaven,  and  that  all  Thy  children  may 
pray  the  prayer  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — 

Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  Thy 
Name.  Thy  Kingdom  come  ; Thy  will  be  done  on 
earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread.  And  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive 
those  who  trespass  against  us.  And  lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil.  For  thine 
is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  for 
ever  and  ever.  Amen. 

Then  followed  the  giving  out  by  Professor  Peabody  and 
the  singing  of  the  version  of  Psalm  lxxxiv.  to  “Winchester 
Tune,”  as  it  was  in  familiar  use  in  the  Church  of  England 
at  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  King’s  Chapel,  and  was 
doubtless  often  sung  here. 


8o 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


The  Chairman  then  said : “ The  Rev.  Henry  W. 
Foote,  the  pastor  of  this  church,  needs  no  introduction 
at  my  hands.  As  the  steward  of  the  church,  as  the  student 
of  its  history,  as  its  official  biographer,  and  still  more  as  its 
loving  child,  no  one  could  more  confidently  give  us  the 
interesting  story  of  its  past.” 

ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  HENRY  WILDER  FOOTE. 

In  this  two  hundredth  year  of  our  parish  life,  we 
welcome  all  who  share  its  traditions.  The  present 
congregation,  as  the  guardians  to  whom  has  been 
intrusted  the  duty  of  preserving  and  transmitting 
them,  feel  that  these  do  not  belong  to  themselves 
alone. 

First  of  all,  we  reverently  thank  Almighty  God, 
in  this  ancient  house  of  prayer,  that  the  angel  of  His 
presence  has  been  with  His  people.  While  seven 
generations  have  come  and  gone  like  shadows,  and 
all  beside  has  changed  around  us,  the  breath  of  their 
piety  lingers  like  incense,  the  light  of  God’s  illumi- 
nating answer  still  shines  in  His  sanctuary.  In  this 
place  which  they  of  old  time  builded  to  His  praise, 
we  rise  to  the  solemn  elevation  of  those  words  of  the 
Consecration  Service  which  recognize  that  “ devout 
and  holy  men,  as  well  under  the  law  as  under  the 
gospel,  moved  either  by  the  express  command  of 
God  or  by  the  secret  inspiration  of  the  blessed 
spirit,  . . . have  erected  houses  for  the  public 
worship  of  God,  and  separated  them  from  all 
unhallowed,  worldly,  and  trivial  uses,  in  order  to  fill 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


81 


men’s  minds  with  greater  reverence  for  His  glori- 
ous majesty,  and  affect  their  hearts  with  more 
devotion  and  humility  in  His  service.” 

In  accord  with  this  high,  reverent  thought,  these 
services  seek  to  make  clear  to  our  sight  different 
aspects  of  the  divine  leading  in  our  past.  So,  then, 
we  have  not  hesitated  to  bring  into  this  Christian 
church  these  memorials,  which  revive  again  the 
memories  once  familiar  here,  — the  royal  gov. 
ernors,  from  Dudley  to  Hutchinson;  the  bene, 
factors,  like  Peter  Faneuil ; the  armorial  bearings 
which  formerly  emblazoned  these  walls ; and  the 
banners  of  the  colony  and  province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay  which  used  to  wave  around  this  spot, 
and  under  which  many  a brave  man  went  forth 
hence  to  the  disasters  of  Martinique  in  1693,  and 
those  of  the  St.  Lawrence  in  i7ii,or  to  the  tri- 
umphs of  Port  Royal,  and,  later,  of  Louisburg  and 
Quebec. 

The  two  centuries  bridge  an  interval  which  sepa- 
rates us  from  a world  as  remote  as  if  it  were  mediae- 
val,— the  time  of  James  Stuart  in  our  mother  land 
and  church,  of  Louis  XIV.  in  France.  How  shall 
we  revive  those  ancient  loyalties  ? In  our  age,  so 
little  sympathetic  with  the  Old  World  life,  and 
among  a community  founded  by  Puritans  and 
indelibly  marked  with  their  strong  impress,  there 
is  no  slight  danger  of  forgetting  the  generous  ele- 
ments which  were  inwrought  into  the  fabric  of  New 
England  history  from  the  wealth  and  power  of 
the  mother-country,  from  the  churchly  habits  and 


82 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


“sober  standard  of  religious  feeling”  of  men  to 
whom  their  Book  of  Prayer  was  dear. 

Children  of  the  Puritans,  indeed,  most  of  us  prob- 
ably are.  If  any  here  are  not,  even  they  cannot 
escape  from  the  fact  that  they  are  largely  the 
mental  and  spiritual  children  of  those  masterful 
men.  Nor  should  any  religious  commemoration 
in  their  good  town  of  Boston  fail  to  do  honor  to 
the  faith  for  which  they  endured  hardships,  the 
consecrated  will  by  which  they  tamed  the  wilder- 
ness, the  clear  and  lofty  purpose  which  shaped  a 
community,  perhaps  more  sober,  steadfast,  Bible- 
reading,  Bible-loving  than  any  other  that  the  sun 
has  ever  shone  upon,  weaving  together  for  fifty  years 
a secure  nest  of  religion  and  morals  for  a gentler 
form  of  faith  to  find  shelter  in.  They  were  here, — 
the  First  Church,  mother  of  the  religious  life  of 
Boston,  its  character  moulded  by  the  saintly 
Wilson  and  the  more  potent  spirit  of  Cotton ; 
the  Second  Church,  shepherded  by  the  Mathers, 
and  the  Third  by  Willard.  They  gave  no  cheerful 
welcome,  indeed,  to  the  Church  of  England  when  it 
sought  here  a planting-ground  and  a place  to  take 
root  in. 

All  passes  before  us  in  a swift  succession  of 
pictures  as  we  gaze  back.  We  see  first  the  Rev. 
Robert  Ratcliffe,  Christian  scholar  and  gentleman, 
with  the  little  company  around  him  of  earnest 
churchmen  on  that  fair  day  of  May,  1686,  when 
“ worship,  according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of 
England,  is  first  had  by  authority  in  the  town- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  83 

house.”  We  see  the  “12  formes  for  the  servise 
of  the  church  and  the  movable  pulpit;”  we  hear 
the  echo  of  the  “prayers  of  ye  church,  to  be  said 
every  Wednesday  and  Friday  in  the  yeare,  for  the 
present,  in  the  Library  chamber  in  ye  town-house  in 
Boston,  and  in  the  Summer  Season  to  beginne  at  7 
of  the  Clock  in  the  morneing,  and  in  the  Winter 
Season  at  9 of  the  Clock  in  the  Forenoone.”  In 
August  the  first  sacrament  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land consecrates  the  town-house,  that  centre  of  the 
primitive  Boston  life,  with  an  unsecular  blessing. 
December  brings  Governor  Andros,  almost  on  this 
very  day  two  hundred  years  ago ; and  few  scenes 
are  more  vividly  written  for  us  in  contemporary 
record  than  those  in  which  the  soldierly  courtier 
from  King  James’s  court  shines  against  the  dark 
background  of  the  Puritan  divines.  The  reluc- 
tant  hospitality  of  the  South  Meeting-house  suffers 
rather  than  welcomes  the  new-comer.  The  gentle 
spirit  of  Lady  Andros  passes  across  the  scene,  and 
soon  the  “ lychns  illuminate  the  cloudy  air  as  the 
bell  tolls  ” for  her  burial.  Then  the  wooden  walls 
rise  of  the  little  church  on  a corner  of  the  town’s 
earliest  burial-ground,  where  now  we  stand,  and 
where  it  has  been  so  long  like  a church  of  the  Old 
World  in  its  quiet  churchyard. 

The  shadowy  forms  pass  before  us  of  the  congre- 
gation who  went  in  and  out  of  that  old  church.  But, 
as  we  gaze,  these  walls  seem  to  shrink  to  narrower 
proportions;  the  pews  are  filled  with  worshippers 
whose  faces  still  look  forth  as  from  the  canvases  of 


84 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


Blackburn  and  Smibert;  uniformed  officers  of  the 
British  Army  and  Navy  brighten  with  scarlet  the 
pew  reserved  for  them  ; the  finely  decorated  gov- 
ernor’s pew  holds  stately  guests.  “In  the  west 
gallery  is  the  first  organ  which  ever  pealed  to  the 
praises  of  God  in  this  country,  while  displayed 
along  its  walls  and  suspended  from  its  pillars,  after 
the  manner  of  foreign  churches,  are  escutcheons 
and  coats-of-arms ; ...  in  the  pulpit  an  hour-glass, 
mounted  on  a large  and  elaborate  stand  of  brass ; 
and  at  the  east  end  ‘ the  altar-piece,  whereon  was 
the  Glory  painted,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the 
Lord’s  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  some  texts  of  Script- 
ure.’ ” The  tones  echo  faintly  to  our  ear  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Myles,  growing  old  in  his  ministry  of 
thirty-nine  years ; of  his  successor,  the  Rev.  Roger 
Price,  rector  and  bishop’s  commissary  with  dele- 
gated Episcopal  authority  over  the  churches  of  his 
communion  in  New  England ; and  of  Caner,  com- 
ing in  his  prime  to  the  wooden  church,  soon  to  see 
his  vision  made  real  of  this  statelier  building,  to 
grow  old  in  his  ministry  here,  “ the  father  of  the 
American  clergy,”  and  to  go  forth  an  exile  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six  years,  loyal  to  his  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  his  king,  with  not  a few  of  his  congrega- 
tion, when  the  darkening  sky  of  the  Revolution 
becomes  night  for  them. 

The  scene  changes.  We  see  these  solid  walls  rise, 
the  first  quarrying  of  that  Quincy  granite  which  the 
prudent  builders  were  fearful  lest  they  might  ex- 
haust. From  far  and  wide  come  the  contributions 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  85 

for  its  building ; English  cathedral  clergy  and  Lon- 
don merchants,  admirals  like  Sir  Charles  Knowles 
and  Sir  Peter  Warren,  Peppered  the  victor  of 
Louisburg,  as  well  as  bishops  and  the  Crown  itself, 
are  asked  for  pious  offerings.  The  people  them- 
selves pour  forth  — the  rich  of  their  treasure ; the 
poor,  of  their  mites  — to  rear  what  was  meant  to 
be  the  noblest  house  of  worship  in  North  America. 
Pre-eminent  among  them  all  as  benefactors  and 
founders  of  the  new  church  shine  the  names  of 
Shirley  and  Apthorp,  whose  monuments  are  fitly 
enshrined  here.  A noble  organ,  whose  keys  Han- 
del’s fingers  are  said  to  have  touched,  takes  its 
place  in  the  new  church,  and  also  a painting,  said 
to  be  from  the  hand  of  Benjamin  West.  The  altar 
gleams  with  silver  plate,  — the  gift  of  three  kings 
of  England ; and  alternating  with  the  successive 
rectors  we  hear  the  voices  of  the  successive  kings’ 
lecturers,  from  Bridge  to  Troutbeck,  whom  the 
royal  bounty  sustains  here  as  long  as  Church  and 
State  hold  together.  Meantime,  a group  of  par- 
ishes of  the  Church  of  England  have  sprung  up 
from  this  vigorous  root,  and  Christ  Church  and 
Trinity  Church  as  its  children.  • 

Through  those  ninety  years,  the  central  persons 
in  the  church  are  the  governors  who  bear  authority 
from  the  Crown,  who  mostly  tread  the  way  for  wor- 
ship between  the  Province  House  and  the  chapel 
of  their  king.  These  walls  are  draped  in  mourning 
for  King  George  II.,  and  hear  the  loyal  prayer  for 
his  successor. 


86 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


The  scene  again  changes.  The  murmur  of  pop- 
ular discontent  grows  louder.  Trampling  mobs  pass 
near  these  walls,  and  Faneuil  Hall  and  the  South 
Meeting-house  are  not  far  away.  That  old  world 
goes  down  in  the  earthquake  of  revolution ; but  the 
gray  stone  church  still  stands,  though  crown  and 
mitre  disappear.  These  aisles  which  have  seen  so 
many  pageants  enter,  — one  of  the  last  in  that  loyal 
time  the  military  funeral  of  Lieutenant-general 
Shirley,  laid  to  rest  in  the  vaults  below,  — now  see 
the  martyred  Warren  brought  here  from  Bunker 
Hill,  and  hear  the  orator  of  that  occasion  first  pub- 
licly utter  in  America  the  word  “ independence.” 
Then  follows  the  dramatic  expiation  to  the  Old 
South  Church  of  its  seizure  by  Governor  Andros 
ninety  years  before,  as  it  is  kindly  admitted  here  by 
the  free  consent  of  the  wardens  to  hold  its  worship 
during  more  than  five  years  of  the  war. 

The  scene  changes  yet  once  more,  as  we  enter 
the  modern  chapter  of  the  church’s  history,  which 
has  now  endured  for  the  last  one  hundred  years. 
As  its  fragments  knit  together  again,  after  being 
“ torn  from  their  king  and  church,”  changes  come 
over  its  worship,  larger  even  than  the  separation, 
yet  with  a great  desire  for  truth  and  peace  and 
Christian  unity,  and  with  a continuing  love  for  the 
past,  its  religious  associations,  and  its  Christian 
faith.  The  church  passes,  with  the  new  life  of  the 
time,  from  being  the  visible  embodiment  of  the 
power  and  presence  of  the  mother-country  here, 
into  the  quiet  religious  ways  of  Christian  duty  and 


JOSEPH  DUDLEY. 

(Governor  1702-1715.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  87 

privilege,  — one  with  a multitude  of  others  here,  all 
seeking  in  their  several  paths  to  make  real  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

Our  commemoration  to-day  is  not  so  much  of  this 
later  time,  but  of  the  earlier,  which  has  a universal 
interest,  in  which  all  may  fitly  claim  a share.  The 
latter  days  (in  some  of  which  we  ourselves  stand)  tell 
their  story  in  marble,  — in  part,  by  the  busts  of  the 
godly  ministers  Freeman,  Greenwood,  and  Peabody, 
and  of  a few  of  the  many  good  men  who  have  given 
this  parish  character  in  this  community,  and  who 
would  themselves  have  said  that  here  they  found 
the  secret  of  what  in  them  was  best.  We  shall  be 
stronger  and  better  for  remembering  what  manner 
of  men  these  were;  and  this  church,  or  any  church, 
can  ask  no  happier  thing  than  that  the  children  of 
such  men  may  continue  the  worthy  tradition  of 
character  and  reverence  and  charity. 

Nor  did  the  latest  period  of  our  history  pass  with- 
out its  being  closely  interwoven  again  in  the  great 
annals  of  the  age.  The  revolution  of  1689  saw  the 
people  led  against  Andros  by  John  Nelson,  his 
fellow-worshipper  here ; the  revolution  of  1776  saw 
the  devoted  loyalists  go  forth  hence  to  exile,  but 
the  body  of  Warren  brought  here  as  the  fittest 
place  of  honor;  and  it  was  twenty-five  years  last 
April  since  that  martial  music  was  heard  once 
more,  and  Governor  Andrew  brought  “tenderly” 
the  Massachusetts  soldiers  who  had  fallen  in  the 
streets  of  Baltimore,  and  laid  them  to  rest  for  a 
little  space  beneath  this  roof.  The  rest  of  the 


88  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

story  is  written  in  our  hearts  and  on  the  western 
wall. 

What  remains  but  that  we  all,  who  ourselves  re- 
member with  gratitude  any  touch  of  the  divine 
Power  that  is  over  all  our  lives,  here  felt  and  known, 
or  who  know  that  the  prayers  of  those  whom  we 
most  honor  in  bygone  generations  have  been  filled 
from  these  ancient  springs  of  faith  that  have  “flowed 
fast  by  the  oracle  of  God,”  should  wish  that  with 
faith  and  power  the  old  church  may  still  lay  hold 
of  the  new  time ; that  the  words  of  the  old  rector, 
when  this  corner-stone  was  laid,  may  be  true  to 
future  generations  as  in  the  past:  “Our  worship  is 
grave  and  comely,  ’ tis  pure  and  simple,  yet  full  of 
noble  majesty,  not  superstitiously  incumbered,  nor 
indecently  naked.  Let  every  circumstance  attending 
it  partake  of  the  same  genuine  and  native  ornament. 
Let  the  house  of  God  in  which  it  is  performed  rise 
up  with  the  same  majestic  simplicity,  neither  incum- 
bered with  vain  and  trifling  decorations,  nor  yet 
wanting  in  that  native  grandeur  which  becomes  the 
beauty  of  worship,  and  which  tends  to  beget  impres- 
sions of  awe  and  reverence  in  all  that  shall  approach 
it.”  And  that  what  was  said  by  his  successor  a 
century  ago  may  still  be  true : “ Our  earnest  desire 
is  to  live  in  brotherly  love  and  peace  with  all  men, 
and  especially  with  those  who  call  themselves  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.” 

The  Chairman  then  said:  “For  nearly  a century,  the 
governors  of  the  colony,  in  royal  state,  attended  divine  ser- 
vice in  this  church.  The  older  members  of  the  congre- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


S9 


gation  can  remember  the  high  and  ornamental  pew  set 
apart  for  their  use.  It  was  a picturesque  addition  to  the 
architecture  of  the  church.  This  pew,  which  was  removed 
about  sixty  years  ago,  has  been  restored  for  this  occasion  ; 
and  I am  glad  that  the  Governor  of  our  Commonwealth, 
who  honors  us  with  his  presence  to-day,  has  been  placed 
there  as  an  expression  of  the  respect,  the  gratitude,  the 
affection  which  grace  and  dignify  the  closing  days  of  his 
official  life.  If  the  people  of  Massachusetts  had  but  one 
voice,  they  would  say  to  him,  with  all  the  sincerity  of  truth 
and  the  solemnity  of  history,  ‘ Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant ! ’ We  beg  of  his  Excellency  the  favor  of 
some  words  of  sympathy 


ADDRESS. 

BY  GEORGE  DEXTER  ROBINSON,  LL.D., 

Governor  of  Massachusetts. 

An  occasion  like  the  present  brings  the  largest 
advantage  when  we  are  taught  its  lessons  and  sug- 
gestions. In  the  declaration  of  rights,  the  people 
of  our  Commonwealth  have  included  the  broad 
proposition  that  “ all  religious  sects  and  denomina- 
tions demeaning  themselves  peaceably  and  as  good 
citizens  of  the  Commonwealth  shall  be  equally 
under  the  protection  of  the  law;  and  no  subordi- 
nation of  any  one  sect  or  denomination  to  another 
shall  ever  be  established  by  law.”  So  far  as  consti- 
tutional or  legal  provisions  extend,  every  member  of 
the  body  politic,  protected  against  the  domination 
of  others,  may  choose  his  religious  home  with  the 
body  of  worshippers  he  approves,  and  uphold  his 

12 


90  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

own  household  of  faith  as  an  essential  and  inalien- 
able right. 

The  State  is  not  constituted  to  teach  religion  ; 
nor  is  the  Church  charged  with  the  duty  of  making, 
expounding,  or  administering  the  civil  laws.  So 
broad  is  the  separation  between  these  momentous 
powers  and  privileges,  so  harmonious  is  the  en- 
joyment of  citizenship  in  Massachusetts,  that  we 
scarcely  realize  as  we  exclaim,  “ I was  free  born  ! ” 
that  the  fathers  obtained  their  freedom  at  a great 
cost  and  exceeding  sacrifice,  and  bore  many  a griev- 
ous conflict  to  lay  the  foundations  of  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty  on  our  soil  upon  so  enduring  a basis 
that  its  blessings  far  outnumber  and  surpass  all  the 
world  has  witnessed  elsewhere. 

It  is  abundantly  fruitful,  therefore,  to  recognize 
so  important  an  anniversary  as  that  you  celebrate 
to-day,  and  to  yield  ourselves  to  the  influence  of 
the  holy  associations  that  cluster  here. 

We  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  great  past.  We 
try  to  realize  the  situation,  the  exigencies,  of  the 
year  1686.  We  look  forward  a century,  through 
perils  and  distress,  and  yet  ever  over  heroism  and 
invincible  resolution,  to  the  fruition  of  hope  in  the 
foundation  of  the  Commonwealth  and  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  and  then  down  over  another 
hundred  years  to  the  marvellous  development  and 
power  exemplified  in  the  present  time.  The  very 
walls  about  us  are  eloquent  beyond  human  speech. 
The  ancient  memorials  tell  the  wonderful  story. 
Again  we  seem  to  feel  the  inspiring  presence  of 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


91 


the  noble  men  and  women  whose  dust  has  long  min- 
gled with  the  soil  whereon  they  trod,  and  whereon 
they  reared  sacred  edifices  and  the  still  grander 
temple  of  universal  freedom. 

The  Puritan  had  regarded  the  royal  charter  as 
his  palladium.  For  fifty  years  it  had  been  his 
refuge  from  oppression  and  wrong.  Escaping  from 
ecclesiastical  tyranny  in  England,  he  was  zealous  in 
propagating  in  America  his  own  system  of  faith,  in 
crushing  out  every  form  of  heresy,  and  in  strength- 
ening his  church  against  the  wicked  assaults  of  its 
enemies.  To  hold  fast  to  the  faith,  he  maintained, 
assured  life  and  strength;  to  tolerate  liberality  or  in- 
dulgence toward  another,  yielded  inevitably  to  death 
and  hopeless  ruin.  He  came  to  settle  in  America 
that  he  might  enjoy  the  liberty  of  worshipping  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  and 
he  welcomed  only  those  to  equal  privileges  whose 
consciences  worked  in  harmony  with  his  own.  Men 
of  such  mould  and  spirit  were  the  first  settlers  of 
Boston. 

We  may  well,  then,  conceive  the  horror  and  in- 
dignation with  which,  when  the  charter  had  been 
destroyed,  the  Puritan  regarded  the  advent  of  Sir 
Edmund  Andros,  captain-general  and  governor-in- 
chief, glittering  in  scarlet  and  lace,  and  charged 
with  the  illegal  and  despotic  commission  from  his 
sovereign  king  to  force  the  establishment  of  the 
odious  Church  of  England  in  Boston.  Exclusive 
as  was  the  Puritan  himself,  the  act  of  the  king 
and  the  bishops  in  overriding  the  wishes  of  the 


92 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


people  and  foisting  upon  them  and  into  their  own 
meeting-house  the  institutions  they  hated  and  re- 
sisted, was  unjustifiable  persecution  and  tyranny. 

But  the  end  we  now  see  was  sure  to  come.  The 
grand  destiny  of  the  future  overleaped  the  bounds 
the  Puritan  would  place. 

“ Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free  ; 

He  builded  better  than  he  knew  ; 

The  conscious  stone  to  beauty  grew.” 

Freedom  for  one  became  freedom  for  all.  The 
way  to  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  was 
opened  in  Massachusetts.  A hundred  years  later, 
explicit  declaration  was  written  into  her  constitu- 
tion ; and  the  union  of  the  people  in  the  grand  re- 
public of  America  was  founded  with  the  recognition 
of  this  providential  and  beneficent  principle. 

The  storm  had  raged,  the  heavens  had  been 
overcast,  the  roar  of  the  conflict  had  disturbed 
the  land;  but  the  broad  resplendent  sunshine  that 
blesses  us  to-day  fell  all  the  more  gratefully  and 
benignantly  upon  the  people  \yho  had  endured 
the  tempest  and  welcomed  the  glory  of  the  bright- 
ening sky.  Churches,  sects,  creeds,  opinions  — all 
and  of  every  kind  — are  received  in  complete  tol- 
eration. Through  and  over  all  is  spread  a warmer 
spirit  of  kindness  and  brotherly  love,  ministering 
in  blessed  charity  to  the  down-trodden,  the  dis- 
tressed, the  broken-hearted  ; rearing  splendid  tem- 
ples of  beneficence  that  carry  support  and  relief 
to  the  unfortunate,  reformation  to  the  vicious,  in- 
struction to  the  ignorant,  and  lifting  this  noble 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


93 


work  far  above  the  petty  contentions  of  sectarian 
difference  into  the  pure  atmosphere  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ 

In  so  grand  a position  of  power  and  beneficence 
does  our  beloved  Commonwealth  stand.  I should 
be  indeed  faithless  to  her  highest  impulses  and  her 
heartfelt  convictions  did  I not  here  and  now  recog- 
nize her  obligation  to  the  stern  and  godly  men  of 
yore,  who  built  the  ancient  churches  and  gathered 
the  people  within  their  walls  to  worship  God,  to 
praise  Him  for  His  abundant  blessings,  and  to  in- 
voke His  great  mercy  and  favor  upon  their  under- 
taking in  the  cause  of  religion  and  liberty. 

But  the  people  of  to-day  cannot  safely  disregard 
their  duty.  If  there  shall  be  a great  and  honorable 
future,  if  the  celebration  of  the  next  century’s  anni- 
versary shall  be  crowned  with  renewed  glory  and 
continued  peace  and  safety,  it  will  be  only  because 
the  sons  hold  in  sacred  trust  what  the  fathers  so 
grandly  established  and  transmitted.  The  interests 
of  religion  lie  near  the  life  of  the  State.  While  the 
framers  of  our  Constitution  declared  absolute  toler- 
ation and  protection  for  all  forms  of  religious  faith, 
they  put  them  in  union  with  unqualified  recogni- 
tion that  “ the  public  worship  of  God  and  instruc- 
tion of  piety,  religion,  and  morality  promote  the 
happiness  of  the  people  and  the  security  of  a 
republican  government.”  Though  the  State  has 
no  established  church,  her  people  cannot  neglect 
the  interests  of  religion  without  grave  danger  to 
good  order  and  security.  By  no  means  have  we 


94 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


any  right  to  claim  that  it  is  a matter  of  no  conse- 
quence whether  public  worship  and  religious  teach- 
ings are  maintained  or  not.  That  is  not  the 
guaranty  from  the  past.  Liberty  is  not  license. 
Independence  is  by  no  means  indifference.  Privi- 
lege affords  no  release  from  duty. 

Bitter,  indeed,  may  be  our  scoffing  and  ridicule 
over  the  austerity  and  illiberality  of  the  Puritan 
fathers ; but  merciless  will  be  the  condemnation 
coming  generations  will  visit  upon  us,  if  while  we 
boast  of  our  freedom  and  flaunt  our  defiance  of 
ecclesiastical  control,  ignorance,  immorality,  corrup- 
tion, selfishness,  and  worldliness  shall  have  despoiled 
us  of  our  patrimony  and  blighted  the  prospects  of 
the  future.  Bring  religion  and  politics  together 
into  the  domain  of  the  private  conscience ; let  the 
obligations  a man  owes  to  the  public  be  tested  by 
the  standards  of  justice,  of  fairness,  of  integrity, 
of  square  dealing  that  characterize  honorable  inter- 
course among  men,  — in  other  words,  carry  the 
church,  your  church  and  mine,  and  the  high  in- 
spirations that  come  from  every  religious  commun- 
ion, into  public  service  and  duty,  and  that  union  of 
Church  and  State,  incarnating  the  noblest  prin- 
ciples and  the  purest  life,  will  bring  no  peril  but 
rather  unlimited  support  to  our  free  institutions, 
and  assure  the  stability  of  the  State. 

Says  De  Tocqueville:  “Despotism  may  govern 
without  religious  faith,  but  liberty  cannot.  The 
United  States  must  be  religious  to  be  free.  Society 
must  be  destroyed  unless  the  Christian  moral  tie  be 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


95 


strengthened  in  proportion  as  the  political  tie  is 
relaxed  ; and  what  can  be  done  with  a people  who 
are  their  own  masters,  if  they  are  not  submissive 
to  Deity  ? ” 

I am  honored  in  the  invitation  to  participate  in 
the  celebration  of  the  establishment  of  this  ancient 
church,  and  to  it  I respond  in  all  the  earnestness  of 
my  heart.  No  occasion  like  the  present  can  pass 
without  touching  closely  in  sympathy  all  the  people 
in  Massachusetts.  She  abides  to-day  in  her  loyalty 
to  the  grand  and  noble  deeds  and  sentiments  of 
the  past;  and  all  the  honor  of  her  future  rests  in 
fidelity  to  God’s  eternal  laws  of  justice,  of  holiness, 
of  purity,  and  of  uprightness,  for  which  everywhere 
the  true  church  shall  be  consecrated  and  revered  in 
the  hearts  of  men. 

The  original  hymn  by  Dr.  William  Everett,  to  the 
tune  of  St.  Thomas,  was  then  sung  by  the  choir  and  con- 
gregation ; after  which  the  Chairman  said  : — 

“ The  past  of  Massachusetts  is  rich  with  moral  and  intel- 
lectual wealth,  of  which  this  church  has  contributed  its  full 
share.  We  call  on  the  President  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  to  draw  from  the  storehouse  of  his 
abundant  knowledge  the  fruits  of  wisdom  and  instruction. 
Apart  from  our  reverent  relations  to  him  as  our  frequent 
guide  and  teacher  in  the  pulpit  of  this  church,  and  as  a 
member  of  the  First  Church  of  Boston,  from  which  we 
welcome  a voice  of  sympathy,  there  is  a historical  propriety 
in  his  presence  and  aid.  The  rooms  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  stand  on  the  north  side  of  our  burial- 
ground,  on  the  site  of  the  home  of  the  last  provincial  cler- 
gyman of  this  church,  — the  Rev.  Dr.  Caner,  who  at  the 


96 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


Revolution  fled  the  country.  This  property  was  confis- 
cated by  the  State,  and  eventually  came  into  the  possession 
of  the  Historical  Society.  In  either  building  Dr.  Ellis 
stands  the  representative  and  the  exponent  of  the  richest 
associations  of  our  political  and  ecclesiastical  history.” 


ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  GEORGE  EDWARD  ELLIS,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

President  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society . 

Our  local,  historical,  and  memorial  celebrations 
are  becoming  very  numerous,  as  is  realized  by  those 
privileged  to  take  part  in  them.  One  of  our  New 
England  mothers  of  a household,  in  the  olden  time 
of  large  families,  began  with  a loving  observance 
of  the  recurring  birthdays  of  her  children,  as  they 
came  one  by  one  or  in  pairs.  But  as  they  multi- 
plied, so  as  to  require  a festive  occasion  almost  in 
each  month,  she  decided  to  take  a general  average 
of  them,  and  to  make  the  annual  Thanksgiving 
Day  a very  happy  one  for  them  all.  We  may  yet 
have  to  group  some  of  our  commemoration  days. 

But  the  first  question  to  be  asked  of  each  of 
these  occasions  is  as  to  what  gives  it  its  special 
interest,  significance,  or  importance.  So  we  ask  of 
this  occasion.  And  we  distinguish  at  once  between 
two  elements  in  it,  one  of  which  we  put  all  aside. 
The  old  feuds  and  rancors  of  religious  controversy, 
the  animosities  and  alienations  attendant  upon  the 
planting  of  a church  of  the  English  model  in  a 
Puritan  colony,  are  left  by  us  to  the  past,  — to 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  97 

history.  As  such,  they  have  a full  and  impartial 
record  on  the  admirably  wrought  pages  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  history  of  this  Chapel  by  your  present 
minister. 

There  is  quite  another  point  of  view  for  our  re- 
trospect. Nature,  as  we  see  it  in  the  old  woods, 
gently  covers  with  moss  and  creeping  growths  the 
wounded  trunks  and  stumps  in  their  decay.  And 
so  may  picturesque  incidents,  touches,  and  fancies 
come  to  us  as  investing  the  exciting  occasion  when 
the  English  Church,  with  its  observances,  came 
uninvited  here.  As  we  look  candidly  at  the-  facts, 
the  time  and  occasion  had  rightfully  matured  for 
the  recognition  of  the  State  religion  of  the  realm 
on  this  peninsula.  Even  as  the  strife  which  was 
opened  was  the  warmest,  its  incidents  and  features 
could  not  have  been  all  grim  and  sour  ; some 
touches  of  merriment  and  humor  must  have  re- 
lieved it.  Whether  that  mischief-maker  Randolph, 
in  writing  to  the  archbishop,  used  the  word  “ leth- 
argy ” instead  of  “ liturgy,”  as  much  needed  here,  or 
whether  it  was  a mistake  of  the  printer,  the  joke  was 
equally  an  available  one.  We  may  trace  the  serious 
and  the  humorous  incidents  of  the  strife  in  the 
Diary  of  the  good  old  Puritan  judge  Samuel  Sewall, 
though  what  is  humor  to  us  was  all  very  serious  to 
him.  Recall  his  deep  sadness  and  his  stiff  resolve, 
when  he  was  asked  to  sell  a plot  of  his  land  on  the 
ridge  opposite  this  present  building  for  a church. 
“ No,”  said  he,  “ the  land  belonged  formerly  to  Mr. 
Cotton,  the  Non-Conformist  exile  from  his  mother- 


13 


93 


KINGS  CHAPEL,  BOSTON. 


church.  He  would  not  wish  his  land  to  be  used 
for  such  a purpose.”  That  was  reason  enough. 
What  a touch  of  home-life  there  is  in  the  scene 
when  his  good  little  boy  — afterward  Dr.  Joseph 
Sewall,  of  the  Old  South  — wins  his  father’s  appro- 
bation by  telling  him  that  he  had  not  been  beguiled 
by  his  playmates  to  peep  into  the  Chapel  for  a sight 
of  the  Christmas  decorations  ! Or  mark  the  satis- 
faction of  the  judge  himself,  as  he  counts  the  teams 
of  hay  and  wood  that  come  into  the  town  and  the 
shops  open,  though  it  be  Christmas  Day. 

Recall  vividly  and  calmly  the  historic  incident 
of  the  beginning  here.  This  wilderness  peninsula 
had  been  reclaimed  for  peaceful  and  thrifty  Eng- 
lish homes,  through  hard  toil  for  fifty-six  years,  by 
the  zeal  and  manfulness  of  English  exiles,  who, 
oppressed  by  a class  of  bishops  quite  unlike  those 
known  to  us,  — temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  lords, 
with  their  prerogatives  and  courts,  — had  sought  a 
refuse  here.  The  exiles  had  memories  and  smarts 
and  sturdy  principles.  They  set  up  worship  and 
methods  of  their  own.  Those  who  had  been 
brought  here  as  little -children,  and  a new  genera- 
tion from  their  stock,  had  grown  into  active  life  on 
the  as  yet  rude  stage.  Nursed  and  nurtured  amid 
rough  stern  scenes,  under  a parental  Puritanism, 
this  new  generation,  without  the  gentle  and  gracious 
memories  of  their  fathers  of  the  dear  old  English 
home,  had  stiffened  into  more  hardness  and  rigor  in 
their  religion.  The  tables  were  to  be  turned  here, 
exactly  inverting  the  relations  between  Puritans  and 


MRS.  REBECCA  (TYNG)  DUDLEY. 

(Wife  of  Governor  Joseph  Dudley.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


99 


Churchmen  in  England.  Puritanism  was  our  estab- 
lished church;  Churchmen  were  dissenters.  But 
the  shock  came.  The  surpliced  priest,  and  soon 
his  “box  of  whistles”  to  help  out  native  psalmody, 
his  read  prayers,  his  changing  attitudes  in  worship, 
his  saints’  days,  including  that  for  the  “ holy  martyr 
Charles  I.,”  who  belonged  to  quite  another  fellow- 
ship for  the  Puritans,  — all  these  came;  and  they 
brought  consternation  with  them.  But  they  came 
rightfully  and  opportunely.  There  was  a constit- 
uency and  material  here  for  an  English  church.  It 
was  a critical  and  transitional  period  for  the  Puri- 
tan commonwealth.  The  colony  charter  had  been 
vacated  ; and  the  Crown  had  strongly  asserted  its 
prerogatives  here,  with  new  organic  rules,  backed 
by  its  official  emissaries.  There  were  here  sworn 
servants  of  the  monarch,  officers  of  the  customs,  of 
the  army  and  the  navy,  coming  and  going  in  the 
military  operations  of  the  time.  The  portraits  and 
insignia,  which  for  this  occasion  adorn  this  edifice  ; 
the  tablet  of  the  royal  arms,  once  attached  to  the 
house  of  the  royal  governor,  now  suspended  before 
me,  — are  all  emblems  to  us,  so  out  of  place  for  a 
Puritan  meeting-house,  of  residents  here  who  de- 
sired their  own  place  and  form  of  worship.  Besides 
these,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  were  inhabitants  en- 
gaged in  commerce  and  trade,  who  had  not  severed 
their  ties  of  love  and  loyalty  to  the  mother-country. 
And  yet,  further,  there  were  here  not  a few  native 
born,  alienated  from  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of 
Puritanism,  who  could  not  comply  with  the  exacted 


IOO 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


conditions  of  baptism  for  their  children  or  with 
the  terms  of  admission  to  the  communion.  Many 
of  these  sought  the  milder  ways  of  the  English 
Church.  It  was  on  such  as  these  last  that  Judge 
Sewall  kept  a watchful  eye.  It  grieved  him  to  hear 
of  the  tolling  church-bell  or  the  reading  of  the  sol- 
emn burial-service  over  some  who  he  thought  had 
not  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity. 

Rightfully,  as  I have  said,  was  the  Church  of 
England  planted  in  this  town.  Of  course,  it  caused 
grief  and  anxiety  here  to  others  than  those  who 
were  rigid  in  bigotry.  We  may  well  believe  that 
there  were  many  of  clear,  vigorous,  mental  powers 
and  of  a generous  spirit,  who  saw  in  this  recogni- 
tion of  the  royal  presence  and  sovereignty  in  a 
privileged  State  church  the  tightening  of  a foreign 
power  over  a previously  independent  people.  It 
was  a sign,  and  they  dreaded  what  might  come  of 
it.  The  displeasure  natural  here  was  greatly  imbit- 
tered  by  some  arbitrary  and  offensive  acts  of  the 
royal  governor.  He  acted  on  the  assumption  that 
the  town  and  people  were  bound  to  provide  him 
with  a place  and  aids  in  his  worship.  He  so  ap- 
propriated the  South  Church  against  the  remon- 
strances, and  to  the  annoyance  and  discomfort,  of  its 
proprietors.  The  times  were  then  distracted.  Im- 
portant public  papers  and  records  are  lost.  It  does 
not  appear  by  what  method,  whether  of  purchase 
or  allowance  from  the  town  or  by  seizure,  Andros 
planted  the  edifice  preceding  this  on  the  corner  of 
the  first  burial-ground  of  Boston. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


IOI 


That  wooden  and  this  precious  stone  edifice 
served  the  purpose  of  the  Church  of  England  for 
nearly  ninety  years.  The  “ King’s  Lecturer,”  whose 
presence  gave  dignity  to  the  ministrations  at  the 
Royal  Chapel,  received  his  stipend  from  the  Crown. 
The  resources  of  the  congregation  provided  for 
the  associate  rector,  and  for  the  current  expenses. 
Then  came  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  extinguish- 
ing the  royal  power  in  our  land.  The  rector  of  the 
Chapel  and  a large  portion  of  his  loyal  flock,  the 
proprietors  of  this  edifice,  left  the  country,  never  to 
come  back  again.  The  edifice  escaped  destruction 
or  insult  from  the  returning  inhabitants  after  the 
siege,  though  they  were  smarting  under  the  demoli- 
tion of  one  and  the  defilement  of  three  other  of 
their  sanctuaries. 

The  South  Church,  now  standing  at  the  corner 
of  Milk  Street,  had  been  so  wrecked  and  polluted 
by  the  British  soldiers  that  it  was  only  after  five 
years  that  its  impoverished  owners  were  able  to 
cleanse  and  restore  it.  In  the  interval,  the  con- 
gregation worshipped  in  this  deserted  Chapel;  and 
here  their  minister,  Rev.  Dr.  Eckley,  was  ordained. 
Of  what  followed  here  — the  consequent  dropping 
away  from  the  English  Church,  the  change  in  the 
renewal  of  the  ministry  and  in  your  ritual  for  wor- 
ship — you  will  soon  have  an  exhaustive,  candid, 
impartial,  and  interesting  narration  in  the  second 
volume  of  the  historical  work  by  your  minister. 
The  remnant  left  of  the  old  proprietors  of  the 
edifice,  joined  by  others,  renewed  here  much  of 


102 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


the  previous  form  of  worship.  But  the  liturgical 
books  in  pews  and  reading-desk  were  no  longer  ser- 
viceable. The  young  man,  James  Freeman,  who 
was  invited  here  as  reader  and  preacher,  objected 
not  only  to  the  prayers  for  the  King  of  England, 
but  to  the  forms  of  addressing  the  King  of  kings. 
There  was  then  no  organized  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States,  and  ordination  by  its 
ritual  could  not  be  obtained  here  for  ministers. 
There  was  much  confusion  and  variance  of  opinion 
over  the  whole  country  on  the  subject.  The  rector 
of  Christ  Church  in  Philadelphia,  afterward  the  be- 
loved and  venerated  Bishop  White,  with  some  asso- 
ciates, had  proposed  a method  for  the  continuance 
of  his  communion  in  this  country  without  help 
from  English  bishops,  and  had  also  prepared  a book 
as  a proposed  manual  for  worship,  which  afterward 
received  but  slight  respect.  The  changes  made  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  for  use  in  this  Chapel 
were  made  deliberately  and  conscientiously.  The 
most  important  of  them  were  the  omission  of  terms 
of  speech,  words,  phrases,  and  sentences  which  were 
not  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  and  the  substitution 
for  them  of  those  more  strictly  Scriptural.  All 
sacerdotal,  hierarchical,  and  ecclesiastical  elements 
were  also  eliminated  from  the  pages  of  the  book. 
It  is  for  those  who  are  to  follow  me  to  retrace  the 
later  history  of  the  congregation,  and  to  commemo- 
rate its  ministers. 

I have  been  asked  to  say  a few  words  about  Dr. 
Greenwood.  Most  gladly  do  I do  so.  Of  all  the 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  IO3 

loved  and  venerated  men  who  now  in  thickening 
fellowship  gather  about  my  memory,  there  was  no 
one  of  a more  saintly,  apostolic,  grave  loveliness, 
dignity,  and  beauty  than  Dr.  Greenwood.  Pardon 
me  if  my  reference  to  him  is  personal.  I recall  him 
when  he  was  just  closing  his  first  ministry  at  the 
New  South  Church  in  Summer  Street,  — a delicate, 
frail  man,  seeming  to  have  but  a short  tenure  of 
life,  afflicted  with  that  pulmonary  weakness  which 
followed  him  through  his  whole  course.  I was  at 
the  age  of  five  years.  I distinctly  remember  him, 
as  after  being  housed  through  the  whole  winter  he 
came  out  to  his  meeting-house,  and,  unable  to  climb 
the  stairs  of  the  pulpit,  stood  by  the  communion 
table  and  read  a brief  letter  of  thanks  to  his  consre- 
gation  for  their  kindness  in  having  furnished  him 
the  means  of  foreign  travel.  His  beloved  physician, 
the  venerated  and  endeared  Dr.  Jackson,  had  pro- 
nounced him  in  such  a condition  that  even  if  his 
life  were  prolonged  he  would  never  preach  again. 
On  leaving  that  service  he  stopped  at  my  father’s 
house,  a few  doors  from  the  church,  and  there  bap- 
tized a little  infant,  the  late  minister  of  the  First 
Church  in  Boston.  I recall  one  of  those  philosophi- 
cal discussions  in  the  nursery  after  that  occasion, 
such  as  will  take  place  among  children,  — when  we 
debated  the  question  whether  one  would  rather  be 
that  little  infant,  who  had  the  prospect  of  a long 
and  happy  life,  or  that  poor  sick,  frail  minister  who 
seemed  so  near  the  grave  ; and  we  concluded  that 
it  would  be  better  to  be  the  minister,  for  he  was  so 


104  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

good  that  he  was  sure  to  go  right  to  heaven  as  an 
angel  the  moment  he  died. 

Years  passed,  and  Dr.  Greenwood  as  your  min- 
ister lived  to  exchange  pulpits  at  Northampton 
with  that  little  infant! 

Fifty  years  ago  this  month,  I stood  for  the  first 
time  in  this  pulpit  to  help  Dr.  Greenwood  in  his 
infirmity ; and  here,  before  I had  a charge  of  my 
own,  I preached  for  several  weeks  and  months  while 
he  was  absent  through  the  winter  at  Santa  Cruz. 
I had  frequent  opportunities  of  intimacy  with  his 
sweet  and  lovely  spirit  and  character.  The  tones 
of  his  voice  were  almost  a sermon  and  a prayer. 
And  perhaps  I express  the  feeling  of  many,  or  of 
some  at  least  who  remember  him  here,  when  I re- 
peat an  anecdote.  As  I had  been  preaching  here 
one  Sunday  during  his  absence,  on  passing  out  of 
the  aisle  I was  with  the  late  Charles  P.  Curtis,  who 
I think  was  then  an  officer  of  the  church.  He  pro- 
nounced a few  kind  words  about  my  youthful  per- 
formance ; but  he  added,  “ I would  rather  hear  Dr. 
Greenwood  preach  the  same  sermon  every  Sunday 
in  the  year  than  hear  anybody  else  in  the  pulpit.” 

The  Minister  then  said  : “It  has  been  recalled  to  you 
how  peculiarly  the  history  of  this  church  and  that  of  one 
of  the  Puritan  churches  of  this  city  have  been  connected 
in  the  past,  at  the  beginning  of  the  two  centuries.  Again, 
midway  in  their  course,  the  Old  South  Church  and  King’s 
Chapel  had  special  relations.  It  is  peculiarly  fit,  therefore, 
that  at  the  beginning  of  our  third  century  the  minister  of 
the  Old  South  should  speak  to  us.” 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


105 


ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  GEORGE  ANGIER  GORDON, 

Minister  of  the  Old  South  Church. 

The  history  of  the  connection  of  King’s  Chapel 
and  the  Old  South  Church  is  very  interesting  indeed. 
It  has  been  necessarily  anticipated  by  the  speakers 
who  have  preceded  me,  but  it  is  interesting  enough 
for  me  to  call  your  attention  to  it  again. 

King’s  Chapel,  like  most  other  churches,  was  born 
poor.  It  came  into  the  world  before  it  had  an  ec- 
clesiastical home.  It  organized  itself  into  a church 
before  it  had  a place  wherein  to  worship.  In  May 
of  1686  the  first  minister  came  to  Boston,  and  dur- 
ing that  summer  and  fall  and  winter  of  1686  and 
1687,  as  you  have  been  told,  the  congregation  wor- 
shipped in  the  library  of  the  town-house.  That 
bare  and  meagre  room  did  not  seem  quite  con- 
sonant with  the  dignity  and  magnificence  of  the 
Episcopal  service.  What  was  to  be  done  ? To 
build  they  were  not  able,  but  to  beg  they  were 
not  ashamed.  There  were  then  three  flourishing 
Congregational  churches  in  Boston,  — the  First, 
Second,  and  the  Third,  or  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Old  South.  The  Old  South,  or  the  Third 
Church,  had  the  best  meeting-house,  and  was  sit- 
uated in  the  best  part  of  the  town,  which  the  royal 
Episcopal  governor  was  not  slow  to  appreciate.  So 
he  sent  a request  to  the  proprietors  of  the  Old 
South  Meeting-house  for  permission  to  hold  service 


io 6 king’s  chapel,  boston. 

in  that  edifice,  and  an  order  to  adjust  all  their  ser- 
vices to  suit  his  convenience.  Both  request  and 
order  were  stoutly  opposed.  The  demand  was  made 
again  and  again,  but  met  with  the  same  response. 
Finally,  the  Governor  marched  to  the  church  at  the 
head  of  a party ; and  although  the  sexton  had  given 
his  word  that  he  would  grant  no  admission,  never- 
theless he  did,  and  rang  the  bell.  It  was  in  March, 
1687,  when  the  Governor  and  his  party  entered  the 
church;  and  for  about  two  years  they  maintained 
joint  occupancy  of  the  Old  South  Meeting-house 
with  the  regular  proprietors  of  the  church.  Now, 
the  sum  of  this  connection  seems  to  be  that  King’s 
Chapel  was  poor ; it  was  not  to  blame  for  that.  It 
wanted  a good  meeting-house ; it  was  not  to  blame 
for  that.  It  gave  the  preference  to  the  Old  South  ; 
it  was  not  to  blame  for  that.  But  when  it  came  to 
securing  admission  by  force,  and  maintaining  its 
standing  by  force,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  was  some- 
what to  blame  for  that. 

The  second  incident  in  the  connection  of  the  two 
churches,  perhaps,  you  will  be  more  pleased  to  hear 
of.  During  the  siege  of  Boston,  in  1775,  as  you  all 
know,  the  meeting-house  of  the  Old  South  Church 
was  applied  to  base  uses.  The  congregation  was 
turned  out ; and  their  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Hunt,  left  the 
city  for  Northampton,  where  he  died  in  December. 
This  was,  indeed,  a sad  time  for  the  Old  South  con- 
gregation. They  were  without  a meeting-house,  and 
without  a pastor.  They  were  turned  into  the  street, 
and  were  homeless  wanderers.  The  organization  was 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  107 

kept  intact  by  a few  resolute,  devout,  faithful  men  ; 
and  in  the  hour  of  their  extremity  King’s  Chapel, 
with  Christian  hospitality  and  with  the  most  delight- 
ful feeling  of  fraternity,  opened  her  doors  and  bade 
them  welcome  to  hold  service  within  the  walls  of 
this  edifice.  The  offer  was  gladly  accepted;  and 
Mr.  Joseph  Eckley,  then  preaching  in  town,  was 
asked  to  preach  to  the  Old  South  congregation. 
Their  first  service  was  held  here  Nov.  9,  1777 ; and 
for  a period  of  five  years,  with  one  interruption,  the 
Old  South  congregation  continued  to  worship  in 
this  edifice.  In  1779,  Mr.  Joseph  Eckley  was  here 
ordained  as  minister  of  the  Third  Church,  and  con- 
tinued to  serve  that  church  acceptably  for  over  thirty 
years.  Nothing  is  known  of  this  service  of  ordina- 
tion ; if  any  one  has  any  records  of  it,  or  information 
concerning  it,  they  will  be  gladly  received  by  the  Old 
South  Church.  You  will  see,  if  the  first  incident 
stands  somewhat  to  the  dishonor  of  King’s  Chapel, 
the  second,  in  its  enduring  Christian  fraternity,  is 
more  than  an  offset  to  the  arrogance  of  the  first. 

Now,  this  historical  little  sermon  seems  to  have 
an  application  to  the  two  congregations.  The  first 
is  this : If  ever  King’s  Chapel  should  become  poor 

again,  if  it  should  ever  lose  its  meeting-house,  if  it 
should  ever  look  abroad  among  the  churches  of  this 
city  for  a temporary  home,  and  if  it  should  again 
give  preference  to  the  Old  South,  why  that  would 
seem  very  natural  to  us ; and  if  it  should  come  in 
the  bland  and  insinuating  manner  of  these  modern 
days  and  ask  for  admission,  I have  no  doubt  the 


io8 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


society  and  the  sexton  would  be  very  accommo- 
dating. But  if  it  should  come  in  the  manner  of  the 
ancient  time,  I am  afraid  that  the  success  which  it 
had  in  1687  would  not  be  repeated  in  1887.  This 
is  the  first  point. 

The  second  is  this  : The  Old  South  cherishes 
the  expectation  that  if  a body  of  men  should  again 
desecrate  and  dishonor  its  meeting-house  and  turn 
its  congregation  into  the  street,  and  if  it  should  lose 
its  pastor,  King’s  Chapel  would  generously  open  its 
doors  again.  If  a pastor  were  to  be  ordained  and 
installed,  and  a contentious  Orthodox  ecclesiastical 
council  to  be  entertained,  the  Old  South  still  cher- 
ishes the  hope  that  the  hospitality  and  forbearance 
of  King’s  Chapel  would  again  be  found  equal  to 
the  emergency. 

The  version  of  Psalm  xxiii.,  by  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  was 
then  sung  to  “ York  Tune,”  after  which  the  Minister  said  : 
“The  President  of  Harvard  University  stands  officially  in 
close  relations  with  the  churches  of  Massachusetts  histor- 
ically, pre-eminently  so  with  the  churches  of  the  city  of 
Boston  ; and  of  those  churches,  none  perhaps  is  more 
closely  related  than  this  to  the  University  in  the  number 
of  students  it  has  furnished  thereto,  and  of  graduates  it  has 
received  back  during  these  two  hundred  years.  But  in  com- 
ing to  King’s  Chapel,  the  President  of  Harvard  University 
is  coming  home  to  the  church  which  his  father  served,  to 
the  church  of  his  own  youth  ; and  on  this  historic  occa- 
sion it  may  be  permitted  me  to  add,  that  he  comes  in  the 
sixth  generation  from  ancestors  whose  portraits  hang  on 
these  walls  to-day,  being  in  that  degree  of  descent  from 
Governor  Joseph  Dudley.” 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


IO9 


ADDRESS. 

BY  CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT,  LL.D., 

President  of  Harvard  University. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  should  speak  of  this 
church  to-day  as  something  more  than  an  historical 
monument.  To  many  of  us  it  has  been  a living  and 
a working  church.  I will  say  a few  words  to  you, 
simply  as  a son  of  this  church. 

This  place  is  full  of  touching  memories  for  me, 
and  I doubt  not  for  many  others  here  present  who 
were  brought  up  in  this  church,  but  who  have  been 
separated  from  it  in  after  life  because  their  homes 
or  their  occupations  were  at  a distance.  When  we 
children  of  the  church  return,  we  can  hardly  see  the 
people  that  are  actually  before  us,  so  distinct  is  our 
vision  of  the  young  men  and  maidens,  the  old  men 
and  children,  who  sat  in  these  pews  when  we  were 
young.  We  can  hardly  hear  the  choir  of  to-day  for 
listening  to  familiar  voices  of  other  days,  hushed 
long  ago.  From  this  desk  there  speaks  to  us  a 
deep,  solemn  monotone  which  thrilled  the  listener’s 
ear  forty  years  since.  Up  this  aisle  there  come  pro- 
cessions very  plain  to  memory’s  sight,  some  joyous 
and  some  mournful,  coming  to  wedding,  to  chris- 
tening, or  to  funeral ; and  in  these  companies  of 
kindred  and  friends  we  look  with  a kind  of  com- 
passionate interest  upon  our  former  selves.  We 
stand  aside  as  it  were  for  a moment  and  witness 
the  passing  by  of  the  generation  to  which  we  be- 


no 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


long, — the  extinction  of  the  former  generation,  and 
the  oncoming  of  the  succeeding. 

We  think  very  tenderly  of  these  consecrated  walls, 
as  if  they  had  some  tender  benediction  to  shed  upon 
the  baptisms,  betrothals,  marriages,  burials,  which 
have  marked  here  for  us  the  chief  events  in  our 
family  lives.  And  then  we  remember  that  seven 
generations  have  had  these  same  precious  associa- 
tions with  this  ancient  church,  and  find  our  imagin- 
ations unable  to  picture  the  smiles  and  tears,  the 
happiness  and  grief,  its  two  houses  on  this  spot  have 
witnessed. 

There  are  more  public  grounds  for  cherishing 
kindly  thoughts  of  the  families  who  in  the  earlier 
generations  worshipped  God  in  this  place.  As  has 
been  called  to  our  attention  this  afternoon,  they 
were  largely  loyalists  as  well  as  devoted  members  of 
the  Anglican  Church.  Now,  the  total  loss  of  any 
cause  which  men  and  women  have  served  with  pas- 
sionate loyalty  is  always  pathetic.  The  loyalists  got 
hard  measure  in  the  Revolution.  Many  of  them  suf- 
fered exile  and  the  confiscation  of  their  property, 
only  to  find  the  coldest  of  welcomes  in  the  mother- 
country  or  in  the  still  loyal  provinces.  On  this 
consecrated  ground,  after  the  lapse  of  a century, 
we  Republicans  cannot  help  sympathizing  with 
the  distress  and  personal  sorrow  which  the  long- 
continued  peril  and  final  overthrow  of  the  royal- 
ist cause  brought  to  many  a King’s  Chapel  family. 
Moreover,  we  perceive  that  our  modern  Republican 
loyalty  to  that  personified  ideal  which  we  call  our 


WILLIAM  BURNET. 


(Governor  1728,  1729.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


Ill 


country  is  a virtue  close  akin  to  the  older  loyalty 
to  idealized  personages  — to  kings,  queens,  and 
princes  — which  the  families  connected  with  this 
church  illustrated  in  the  midst  of  an  unsympathetic 
community. 

Finally,  the  conservatism  of  this  church  makes 
her  scattered  children  very  tender  toward  her ; for 
when  they  return  to  her  at  rare  intervals  they  find 
her  unchanged.  Religious  opinions  and  practices 
may  have  undergone  rapid  transformations  in  the 
outer  world  ; we  who  have  been  separated  from  the 
old  church  may  have  changed  our  own  views  ; but 
we  come  back  hither  to  find  the  harbor  just  as  we 
left  it,  and  as  our  fathers  knew  it.  The  world  could 
not  spare  its  adventurers  and  pioneers  ; but  for  one 
pioneer  it  needs  a thousand  conservers,  in  order 
that  all  the  good  the  past  has  won  or  the  present 
wins  may  be  held  fast  and  safely  transmitted.  As  a 
rule,  the  conserver  is  more  lovable  than  the  critic  or 
the  pioneer.  This  church  is  a conserver. 

The  Minister  then  said : “ The  great  communion  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  America  has  its  share  in  these  tradi- 
tions, and  its  members  are  partakers  in  the  early  memories 
of  this  Chapel.  It  was  therefore  hoped  that  it  might  have 
been  possible  for  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  of  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Diocese  of  Massachusetts  to  be  with  us 
to-day  as  its  official  head  ; but  his  official  engagements 
have  called  him  elsewhere.  The  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
who  will  now  speak  to  us,  comes  not  alone  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  that  communion,  but  as  the  minister  of  a 
church  which  sprang  from  this  in  the  early  days.” 


I 12 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  PHILLIPS  BROOKS,  D.D., 

Rector  of  Trinity  Church. 

During  the  past  seventeen  years  I have  owed  a 
great  many  of  the  pleasures  which  I have  enjoyed 
to  my  connection  with  Trinity  Church.  I owe  the 
privilege  of  being  here  to-day,  and  the  fact  that  I am 
the  rector  of  that  church,  to  a certain  scene  which 
took  place  on  a bright  April  morning  in  the  year 
1734,  when  Mr.  Commissary  Price,  who  was  then 
rector  of  King’s  Chapel,  went  down  to  the  corner 
of  Summer  Street  and  Bishop’s  Alley  and  laid  the 
corner-stone  of  Trinity  Church.  One  year  after 
that  time,  at  the  same  place,  in  the  building  which 
had  been  erected  during  the  year,  the  services  of 
Trinity  Church  were  inaugurated  by  a service  held 
and  a sermon  preached  by  the  same  Mr.  Commis- 
sary Price ; and  the  life  of  the  new  church  at  once  be- 
gan, under  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Addington  Daven- 
port, who  up  to  that  time  had  been  in  some  way  as- 
sociated with  the  services  in  King’s  Chapel,  but  who 
then  became  the  first  minister  of  Trinity  Church. 
And  so  our  histories  are  bound  together. 

Mr.  Davenport  is  now  to  us  a very  dim  and  misty 
person,  but  everything  that  we  learn  of  him  is  alto- 
gether to  his  credit;  and  he  gave  at  once  to  the 
services  that  were  held  at  Trinity  Church  and  to 
that  new  parish  a very  dignified  and  honorable  posi- 
tion. He  stands  to  us  now  mainly  as  a link  to  con- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 1 3 

nect  the  lives  of  the  two  parishes,  and  to  let  us  feel 
that  we  belong  to  the  same  line  of  succession  to 
which  the  parishioners  of  King’s  Chapel  belong. 

When  one  has  a happy  life,  he  feels  thankful  to 
those  who  gave  him  a chance  to  live  that  life.  And 
when  a parish  has  lived  the  happy  life  which  Trinity 
Church  has  lived,  while  trying  in  its  way  and  time  to 
do  some  useful  work,  it  is  thankful  to  those  who  gave 
it  the  beginning  of  its  existence  and  the  opportunity 
to  do  that  work;  and  so  we  are  thankful  to  those 
from  whom  you  sprang,  and  from  whom  we  sprang, 
that  they  founded  Trinity  Church  in  that  year  1734. 

I have  tried  to  think  what  is  the  real  relationship 
between  the  King’s  Chapel  of  to-day  and  the  Trinity 
Church  to  which  you  have  given  your  invitation. 
It  is  not  easy  to  fasten  it.  It  is  not  simply  that 
you  are  the  mother-church  and  we  are  the  daughter- 
church.  It  is  something  like  the  relation  which  has 
come  to  exist  between  the  life  of  our  own  country 
and  the  life  of  the  England  across  the  seas.  We 
talk  in  a pleasant  way  about  England  being  the 
mother-country  and  of  this  country  of  ours  being 
the  daughter-country ; but  when  we  come  to  ex- 
amine this  and  to  study  the  relationship,  we  find 
that  we  have  not  stated  it  exactly  as  it  is.  The 
England  of  to-day  is  not  the  mother  of  which  the 
United  States  is  the  daughter.  The  England  of 
to-day  and  the  United  States  of  America  are  sister 
nations;  and  the  mother  of  us  both  lies  two  cen- 
turies back,  — in  the  rich  life  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  out  of  which  we  and  so  much  of  the  best 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


1 14 

of  English  life  have  sprung.  England  is  the  daugh- 
ter who  has  remained  at  home ; we  are  the  daughter 
who  has  gone  abroad.  We  are  not  her  daughter, 
and  she  is  not  our  mother. 

So  it  is  — is  it  not  ? — with  reference  to  the  rela- 
tion which  exists  between  your  parish  and  the  par- 
ish which  I have  the  pleasure  of  representing.  We 
are  both  the  children  of  that  peculiar  English  life  — 
the  life  of  the  English  Church  transported  to  this 
land  and  planted  here  — which  has  been  so  felici- 
tously described  to  us  this  afternoon.  You  are 
daughters  of  that  history ; we  are  daughters  of  that 
history,  not  of  a daughter  parish. 

Let  us  look  for  a moment  on  the  face  of  our  mother. 
She  does  not  shine  in  the  history  of  America.  The 
attempt  to  establish  the  English  Church  in  the  col- 
ony of  Massachusetts  in  those  older  days  was  not 
a successful,  happy,  nor  shining  part  of  our  his- 
tory; and  yet  I am  sure  that  there  was  something 
that  passed  from  it  into  the  mental,  ecclesiastical, 
social,  and  perhaps  even  the  political  life  of  America 
which  it  would  be  a pity  to  have  lost.  Our  mother, 
the  English  Church,  trying  to  establish  herself  in 
the  colonies,  came  somewhat  awkwardly,  as  might 
have  been  expected.  She  tried  to  plant  herself  in 
the  midst  of  an  antagonism  that  made  her  awkward 
and  ungraceful  in  her  coming.  But  she  did  bring 
with  her  something  of  that  profound  reverence  for 
the  past,  something  of  that  deep  sense  of  religious 
order,  something  which  she  had  clung  to  as  the 
true  form  of  devotion,  something  which  had  all  the 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 1 5 

respectability  of  form  and  communion  which  char- 
acterized the  life  of  the  English  Church  throughout 
her  history  and  experience  in  the  old  land.  The 
trouble  was  that  she  came  and  remained  a foreigner; 
and  just  as  soon  as  the  foreigner  was  no  longer  to  be 
tolerated,  she  passed  out  of  the  life  which  had  been 
gradually  acquiring  its  own  national  character.  The 
beauty  of  her  life  was  that  these  two  children  she 
left  behind — King’s  Chapel  and  Trinity  Church  — 
were  thoroughly  American,  in  spite  of  her  old  asso- 
ciations and  her  unfortunate  life  in  a foreign  land. 
She  stamped  upon  those  two  congregations  a dis- 
tinctively American  character.  I do  not  learn  — 
though  those  who  are  wiser  than  I am  may  correct 
me  — that  the  congregation  of  King’s  Chapel  was 
largely  broken  up  by  that  exodus  in  which  the  rec- 
tor of  King’s  Chapel  departed,  carrying  so  much 
with  him  that  was  representative  of  her  history. 
Certainly  the  body  of  the  congregation  remained, 
and  perpetuated  the  life  which  has  resulted  in  the 
history  which  has  come  from  that  day  to  this.  And 
I do  feel  proud  that  the  congregation  of  Trinity 
was  the  only  congregation  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
anywhere  in  this  neigborhood  which  did  so  deeply 
retain  association  with  the  life  of  the  colonies  and 
the  cause  with  which  they  were  identified  that  she 
had  their  spirit  of  independence,  that  she  preserved 
her  service  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  and  that  she  formed  the  nucleus  around 
which  the  life  of  the  Episcopal  Church  was  gathered 
after  the  war  had  closed. 


I 1 6 king’s  chapel,  boston. 

So  our  mother  the  English  Church  at  least  suc- 
ceeded in  this,  that  she  made  others  American,  if 
she  did  not  become  American  herself.  She  suc- 
ceeded in  inspiring  that  spirit  which  must  always 
be  cherished,  — that  while  the  great  Christian  faith 
is  one  everywhere  throughout  the  world,  it  is  one 
part  of  Christian  duty,  and  must  be  one  element 
of  a church’s  successful  life,  to  identify  herself 
with  the  national  life  in  the  midst  of  which  she 
lives ; that  she  shall  sympathize  with  every  na- 
tional misfortune  and  wrong,  and  shall  always  be 
ready  to  rejoice  in  the  progress  of  true  useful- 
ness and  the  larger  happiness  of  the  nation  in 
which  she  belongs. 

I congratulate  King’s  Chapel  that  its  history  has 
been  a patriotic  history  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end.  There  was  no  lack  of  patriotism  so  long  as 
she  sprang  from  and  associated  herself  with  the 
life  of  the  colonies  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution. 
From  that  time  she  has  had  her  typical  men  among 
the  noblest,  purest,  holiest  in  our  American  pulpit. 
She  has  been  ever  ready  to  catch  the  spirit  of  every 
new  cause,  — not  rash  of  impulse,  not  throwing  her- 
self into  the  stream  of  every  enthusiasm  of  the 
hour,  but  always  ready  to  sympathize  deeply  with 
every  wrong  of  the  land,  and  to  help  every  right 
which  was  striving  for  assertion.  And  when  the 
great  crisis  of  our  history  came,  she  sent  her  young 
men,  — none  nobler,  none  more  numerous,  from 
any  city  or  country  congregation,  — she  sent  her 
young  men  into  the  field ; and  there  they  bore  testi- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I I 7 

mony  to  the  life  which  they  had  learned  to  live  here 
at  home. 

It  is  a great  thing  for  a church  thus  to  have  been 
associated  with  a nation’s  life,  — always  ready  to 
meet  each  new  emergency  which  called  it  to  its 
work,  always  ready  to  be  even  a little  beforehand 
by  a general  recognition  of  that  which  was  coming, 
and  by  preparing  her  children  by  the  fundamental 
teaching  of  righteousness  and  truth  that  they  should 
be  ready  when  the  time  arrived. 

One  looks  back  over  this  history  of  two  hundred 
years ; and  it  is  full  of  such  associations  as  this,  — 
the  imagination  has  so  much  room  to  wander  in  ! 
One  of  the  things  to  rejoice  in  on  a great  occasion 
like  this  is  that  this  Chapel  has  stood  for  two  cen- 
turies, imbibing  such  a multitude  of  personal  ex- 
periences, representing  such  countless  souls  that 
have  passed  out  of  the  world  of  living  men  and 
women  and  are  now  with  God  ; that  she  has  striven 
with  issues,  some  of  which  have  been  settled,  and 
others  which  have  developed  into  larger  issues, 
which  have  claimed  in  their  turn  the  souls  of  men  ; 
that  she  has  stood,  generation  after  generation,  for 
the  simplicity,  the  dignity,  the  majesty,  and  the 
worth  of  the  Christian  religion  and  the  Christian 
ministry ; that  she  has  had  such  men  in  her  pulpit, 
men  full  of  the  spirit  of  Christian  faith,  righteous- 
ness, and  love  ; men  who,  to  the  congregation  which 
listened  to  them,  have  represented  something  more 
than  the  truth  they  preached,  — the  dignity  of 
Christian  manhood  and  the  sweetness  of  human 


I 1 8 king’s  chapel,  boston. 

character.  It  is  a great  thing  that  a pulpit  should 
represent,  not  simply  a gospel,  but  a man  ; not 
merely  a truth,  but  a character;  not  merely  doc- 
trines which  people  are  to  believe,  but  also  a minis- 
try which  should  gain  the  respect  of  young  men 
generation  after  generation  ; that  it  should  teach 
men  to  believe  the  truth  that  the  Christian  ministry 
is  indeed  the  noblest  occupation,  the  grandest  pro- 
fession, in  which  men  can  engage.  When  the  time 
shall  come,  as  it  certainly  will  come,  that  young 
men  shall  know  that  truth ; when  there  shall  run 
through  our  schools  and  colleges  a new  perception, 
that,  great  as  are  the  glories  which  belong  to  other 
occupations,  — and  I would  not  undervalue  them, — 
there  is  none  that  can  compare  with  those  attach- 
ing to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  children 
of  God,  — then  the  voices  that  have  thrilled  from 
the  pulpit  of  the  King’s  Chapel  shall  have  a testi- 
mony to  bear  which  shall  deepen  the  impression  of 
that  truth  as  it  comes  home  to  the  minds  of  young 
men.  It  shall  bear  testimony  to  the  way  in  which 
that  truth  has  been  gloriously  manifested  in  the 
lives  and  characters  and  speaking  experiences  of 
those  men  who  have  stood  here  ; who  from  the 
very  fact  of  being  here  have  preached  the  nobleness 
of  life,  the  richness  of  the  pursuit  of  truth,  the 
worthlessness  of  everything  that  does  not  some- 
how fasten  itself  to  the  law  of  God,  the  brother- 
hood of  mankind,  and  the  assurance  of  a universal 
Fatherhood. 

One  of  the  beauties  of  such  a day  as  this  is  that 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 1 9 

it  takes  up  a long  history,  and  gathers  it  together 
within  the  embrace  of  great  principles.  History 
develops  itself  here  and  there  in  a vast  multitude  of 
incidents  and  in  scattered  ways.  These  commemo- 
rative days  take  the  multitude  of  the  events  of  his- 
tory and  gather  them  up  together,  and  enfold  them 
in  the  great  principles  which  have  been  ruling 
through  them  all,  and  in  which  they  must  all  find 
their  explanation. 

It  has  been  intimated  here  this  afternoon  that  the 
history  of  King’s  Chapel  has  been  a varied  one ; 
that  men  have  differed  in  opinion ; that  there  have 
been  discussion  and  dispute.  It  would  not  be  a 
true  picture  of  the  thinking  Christian  world  if  it 
had  been  otherwise.  It  would  not  have  been  a true 
life  of  the  Church  if  it  had  not  represented  men 
differing  from  other  men  with  reference  to  the 
things  which  belong,  not  to  the  surface,  but  to  the 
very  depth  and  substance  of  our  faith.  Let  us  set 
ourselves,  friends,  — we  who  belong  to  the  common 
Church  of  Christ,  — let  us  set  ourselves  against  the 
false  teaching  of  the  times  that  would  disparage 
theology.  Let  us  set  ourselves  against  the  false 
sentiment  that  would  speak  of  theological  discus- 
sion as  if  it  were  a thing  of  the  past,  a blunder  in 
its  day,  and  something  which  the  world  has  out- 
grown. When  the  world  ceases  to  theologize,  — to 
seek  for  the  deepest  and  inmost  truth  with  regard 
to  the  innermost  nature  of  God,  — there  has  fallen 
a palsy  upon  it.  Let  us  rejoice  that  the  history  of 
this  church  represents  the  thought  of  earnest  men 


120 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


who  have  again  and  again  differed  from  one  another 
because  they  have  thought  and  felt  deeply  about 
divine  things.  God  has  never  left  the  minds  of  his 
children  unstirred.  But  while  they  have  differed 
from  one  another,  let  us  rejoice  in  this,  — that  we 
are  looking  back  upon  the  history  of  men  who  were 
earnestly  seeking  after  truth.  And  as  that  history 
gathers  itself  into  our  Christian  consciousness  to- 
day, let  us  rejoice  that  it  lets  us  believe  that  God 
has  vaster  purposes  in  the  history  of  this  and  of  all 
his  churches  than  those  who  have  worked  faithfully 
on  these  problems  are  able  to  understand.  Who 
believes  to-day  that  the  things  which  took  place  in 
the  beginning  of  this  century  have  come  to  a final 
result  ? Who  believes  that  the  changes  which  took 
place  in  connection  with  this  church  and  its  re-for- 
mation at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  have 
come  to  their  final  culmination  ? Who  does  not 
feel,  as  he  stands  at  the  close  of  these  two  hundred 
years  and  looks  back  upon  the  past,  the  necessity  of 
believing  that  God  out  of  these  many  years  will 
bring  rich  results  in  the  future ; that  the  problems 
which  have  been  reasoned  have  not  yet  been  solved  ? 
Who  is  not  ready  to  rejoice  in  every  disturbance  of 
the  past,  so  far  as  it  has  been  the  work  of  good  and 
earnest  men  striving  to  get  at  the  truth  of  God 
and  Jesus  Christ  ? 

How  shall  we  prepare  ourselves  for  that  future  ? 
Not  by  reviving  old  disputes,  but  by  recognizing 
the  earnestness  which  entered  into  those  disputes,  — 
by  consecrating  ourselves  in  personal  obedience  to 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


12  I 


that  Christ  whose  nature,  earnestly  studied,  has  led 
men  apart  from  one  another,  as  they  have  tried  to 
understand  that  which  is  beyond  the  understand- 
ing of  men  only  because  it  is  infinite  and  cannot 
be  reached  by  their  intelligence,  not  because  it  is 
denied  to  their  study  by  any  wall  of  prohibition. 
It  seems  to  me  that  any  one  who  looks  back  on  the 
past  and  recognizes  in  history  the  great  providence 
of  God  in  his  dealings  with  men,  — so  much  deeper 
than  men  have  begun  to  comprehend,  — simply 
wants  to  say  to  any  church,  speaking  for  his  own  as 
he  speaks  for  others  : Let  us  go  and  seek  that 
Christ,  that  infinite  Christ,  whom  we  have  not  be- 
gun to  know  as  we  may  know  him,  — that  Christ 
who  has  so  much  more  to  show  us  than  he  has 
shown  ; that  Christ  who  can  show  himself  to  us  only 
as  we  give  ourselves  in  absolute  obedience  to  him. 
May  that  Christ  receive  from  us,  in  each  new  period 
of  our  history,  more  complete  consecration,  more 
entire  acceptance  of  him  as  our  Master ; and  so  may 
we  receive  from  him  rich  promises  of  new  light,  new 
manifestations  of  his  truth,  new  gifts  of  his  spirit, 
which  he  has  promised  to  bestow  upon  those  who 
consecrate  themselves  to  him  in  loving  obedience, 
unto  the  end  of  time  and  through  all  eternity ! If 
one  may  turn  a greeting  to  a prayer,  may  I not  ask 
for  you,  as  I know  you  ask  for  all  of  our  churches, 
a more  profound  and  absolute  spirit  of  conse- 
cration to  our  master  Christ,  that  in  him,  and  only 
in  him,  we  may  seek  after  and  come  to  his  ever 
richer  life  ? 


16 


122 


king’s  CHAPEL,  BOSTON. 


The  Magnificat  in  F,  by  B.  Tours,  was  then  .sung;  after 
which  the  Minister  said  : “ There  is  one  name  which  to  the 
members  of  this  congregation  who  are  now  in  middle  life 
or  beyond  it,  will  always  be  that  of  the  minister  of  this 
church.  Of  him,  one  who  has  a special  right,  as  the  friend 
most  closely  associated  with  him  in  his  Christian  ministry, 
will  now  speak  to  us.” 


ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  HOPKINS  MORISON,  D.D. 

The  transition  from  Dr.  Greenwood  to  Dr.  Pea- 
body was  an  easy  one,  the  apostolic  succession  be- 
ing unbroken  in  the  change  from  one  saintly  man 
to  another. 

Forty  years  ago  there  was  no  one  in  our  little 
fraternity  who  was  more  universally  loved  by  his 
brethren,  or  looked  up  to  with  a more  happy  and 
confiding  trust  than  Ephraim  Peabody.  One  could 
hardly  be  with  him,  even  for  a little  time,  without 
feeling  that  here  was  a man  absolutely  honest  and 
truthful.  There  was  something  about  him  which 
at  first,  and  then  more  and  more  as  we  knew  him 
better,  gave  us  a sense  of  largeness,  — of  a man 
made  on  a large  scale,  and  from  his  very  constitu- 
tion incapable  of  lending  himself  to  anything  small. 
The  bare  suggestion  of  such  a thing  could  find  no 
place  — not  even  a hiding-place  — in  his  pure  and 
generous  mind.  In  connection  with  this  largeness 
was  a delicacy  of  perception,  which  made  him  pecu- 
liarly sensitive  to  the  finer  influences  of  nature  and 


JONATHAN  BELCHER. 

(Governor  1730— 1741.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


123 


society;  which  enabled  him  to  read  intuitively  the 
characters  of  men  around  him  as  in  a book,  and 
which  brought  him  into  the  closest  sympathy  with 
what  is  finest  in  literature,  and  above  all  with  what 
is  most  tender,  far-reaching,  and  inspiring  in  the  life 
and  teachings  of  our  Saviour.  These  great  quali- 
ties showed  themselves  especially  in  the  faculty  of 
entering  into  the  condition  and  needs  of  others  with 
a wisdom  which  can  come  only  from  above,  and 
which  then  can  be  applied  only  by  the  watchful 
care  and  insight  that  are  prompted  by  unselfish 
sympathies  and  affections.  These  were  the  domi- 
nant features  in  the  character  of  our  friend. 

In  his  early  preaching,  an  occasional  hearer  might 
at  first  recognize  only  the  style  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression which  came  to  him  with  his  Puritan  birth 
and  training,  and  which  might  give  the  impression 
of  a persistent  and  merciless  severity.  But  as  he 
goes  on,  the  hard  tones  of  the  preacher  melt  into 
pathos.  An  unspeakable  tenderness  pervades  his 
whole  nature,  as  he  places  before  his  hearers  images 
of  moral  danger,  of  Christian  faith  and  love,  of  pa- 
tience under  suffering,  or  of  hope  in  death,  which 
touch  every  heart,  and  sometimes  seem  almost  to 
suspend  the  breathing  of  the  audience  as  they  lis- 
ten tearfully  to  his  words. 

Later  in  life  he  changed  this  mode  of  preaching. 
“I  have  got  tired,”  he  said,  “of  rhetoric  even  in 
speeches.  The  truth ! We  have  got  finally  to  stand 
upon  it;  and  I thank  no  man  for  trying  to  glorify 
or  hide  it  by  his  rhetoric.”  With  this  conviction 


124 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


growing  upon  him,  he  gradually  gave  up  the  picto- 
rial illustrations  which  he  had  employed  with  a fac- 
ulty for  word-painting  in  which  he  was  surpassed,  so 
far  as  I know,  by  no  preacher  since  the  days  of  Jere- 
my Taylor.  The  consequence  was  that  in  his  later 
sermons  his  imagination  showed  itself  less  in  separ- 
ate and  extended  illustrations,  and  infused  its  color- 
ing more,  like  the  veins  of  some  beautiful  marble, 
through  the  entire  fabric.  In  reading  them,  we 
seem  at  times  to  be  brought  once  more  within  the 
charm  of  that  genial,  diffusive  nature  which  spread 
itself  out  over  those  who  were  with  him  like  a sum- 
mer’s day.  The  mellowness  of  his  ripening  affec- 
tions, his  calmer  wisdom,  and  richer  thought  gave 
tone  and  character  alike  to  his  private  conversation 
and  his  public  instructions.  Compared  with  his  for- 
mer writings,  his  later  sermons  are  marked  by  a 
severer  taste,  and  at  the  same  time  a greater  free- 
dom of  expression.  We  feel  as  we  go  on  the 
all-pervading  presence  of  a more  comprehensive 
wisdom,  a greater  depth  and  freshness  of  feeling,  a 
more  subdued  solemnity  and  tenderness,  an  imagi- 
nation enriched  by  the  studies  and  experiences  of 
life,  and  working  as  a vitalizing  energy  through  the 
whole  living  texture  of  his  thought. 

And  as  his  preaching,  such  also  was  the  man. 
Truthfulness,  absolute  truthfulness,  was  the  con- 
trolling principle  of  his  being.  This  alone  could 
satisfy  either  his  mind  or  his  heart.  This  truth- 
fulness of  soul  in  its  elevation  and  expansiveness 
bore  him  up,  and  opened  before  him  a sphere  in 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 25 

which  he  found  room  for  the  exercise  and  free 
play  of  all  the  faculties  with  which  he  had  been 
so  largely  endowed. 

I cannot  think  of  him  without  having  uppermost 
in  my  mind  a sense  of  largeness  of  nature,  and,  in- 
separably connected  with  this,  a certain  fineness  of 
texture  running  through  his  whole  intellectual,  moral, 
and  emotional  being.  These  two  qualities  of  large- 
ness and  delicacy,  with  the  attributes  which  of  neces- 
sity go  with  them  in  a nature  so  finely  and  liberally 
endowed,  are  the  surest  tokens  of  greatness,  as  they 
reveal  themselves  in  a man’s  daily  conduct  and  in 
the  great  opportunities  and  crises  of  life.  It  has 
been  my  privilege  to  know  many  of  the  great  men, 
many  of  the  most  thoroughly  consecrated  and  self- 
sacrificing,  of  all  who  during  the  last  fifty  years 
have  helped  to  make  this  community  what  it  is. 
Some  of  these  men  have  been  known  and  honored 
throughout  the  world,  and  some  have  been  hardly 
known  beyond  the  little  neighborhood  in  which 
their  lot  was  cast.  But  among  them  all,  I call  to 
mind  no  one  who  could  better  bear  the  test  of  great- 
ness here  suggested  than  the  modest  pastor  who 
“in  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity”  ministered  at 
this  altar,  and  died  a few  days  more  than  thirty 
years  ago.  Not  as  the  world  judges,  I know,  but 
in  the  elements  of  true  greatness  as  illustrated  by 
our  great  Teacher,  I have  known  no  greater  man 
than  he.  In  the  largeness  and  fineness  which  per- 
vaded all  his  faculties  and  made  them  what  they 
were ; in  the  “ sound  wisdom  ” which  goes  so  deep 


126 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


and  reaches  so  far ; in  the  ruling  motives  of  conduct, 
and  in  the  sympathies  and  affections  which  “void  of 
offence  towards  God  and  man  ” give  breadth  and 
sweetness,  and  throw  around  one  an  unnamed  but 
irresistible  attractiveness  and  charm,  — I have 
known  no  greater  man  than  he. 

There  is  no  time  now  to  prove  what  I have  said 
by  the  analysis  of  what  our  friend  was  as  shown  in 
his  acts  and  words.  But  lest  it  should  seem  the 
extravagance  of  a partisan  or  a personal  friend,  I 
give  the  testimony  of  a very  able  man,  who  belongs 
to  a different  profession  and  a different  branch  of 
the  church,  and  who  never  heard  Dr.  Peabody 
preach,  but  who  knew  him  well  for  many  years,  and 
at  times  was  brought  into  very  intimate  relations 
with  him.  After  speaking  of  some  of  his  remark- 
able traits,  especially,  as  he  says,  “ the  keenest  in- 
sight into  character  I ever  knew,”  so  that  “ his 
estimate  of  men  was  almost  infallible,”  he  adds ; “ Of 
all  the  men  I ever  knew,  he  was  the  one  from  whom 
I learned  the  most  on  questions  of  conduct,  who  im- 
pressed me  most  powerfully  by  his  remarks  on  the 
mysteries  and  trials  of  life,  and  from  whom  I got  the 
most  aid  in  trouble,  and  the  most  light  in  the  diffi- 
cult pathways  which  are  common  to  all.” 

This  comes  from  one  who  had  known  him  long 
and  well  in  the  more  private  and  personal  relations. 
To  those  who  thus  met  him  alone  in  his  confiden- 
tial moments,  there  was  something  very  deep  and 
very  uplifting  and  inspiring.  The  great  things  of 
this  world  become  of  small  account.  We  are  taken 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


127 


up  into  a higher  realm.  We  see  in  him  an  expres- 
sion of  reverence  and  of  loving  trust  such  as  some- 
times settles  down  on  the  face  of  a thoughtful  child. 
We  feel  ourselves  compassed  about  by  a diviner 
order.  It  is  as  if  we  had  been  brought  before  Him 
who,  when  his  disciples  had  been  disputing  who 
should  be  greatest  among  them,  “called  unto  him 
a little  child  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them.” 
And  from  the  lips  of  the  great  Master  we  seem  to 
hear  and  to  understand  as  never  before  the  words, 
“ For  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 

The  Minister  then  said : “ Before  we  join  in  singing 
the  hymn  which  has  been  written  for  this  occasion  by  our 
friend  and  fellow-worshipper,  it  will  be  read  by  one  who 
has  an  ancestral  claim  to  share  in  this  service,  — the  grand- 
son and  namesake  of  the  Warden  who  for  more  than  fifty 
years  gave  this  church  a loyal  service  exceeding  that  of 
any  other  single  member  of  the  parish  in  the  long  line,  and 
whose  monument  is  on  these  walls, — Colonel  Joseph  May. 
And  then  the  minister  by  whose  side  Colonel  May  stood 
from  youth  to  age,  — from  the  time  when  the  young 
Reader  came  here  as  yonder  portrait  represents  him,  to 
the  venerable  years  which  his  bust  indicates,  — whose  more 
than  half  a century  in  this  church  has  left  a fresh  and 
imperishable  impress,  will  speak  again  to  this  people  by 
the  filial  lips  of  Dr.  James  Freeman  Clarke.” 

The  original  hymn  by  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was 
then  read  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  May,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
sung  to  the  tune  of  Tallis’  Evening  Hymn  by  the  congre- 
gation, after  which  followed  the 


128 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE,  D.D., 

Minister  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples , Boston . 

Twice  in  my  life  I have  seen  this  Chapel  as 
full  as  it  is  to-day.  Once  was  a great  while  ago, 
after  the  declaration  of  peace  with  Great  Britain. 
I cannot  pretend  to  remember  much ; but  I do  re- 
member, as  a little  boy,  being  very  much  surprised 
by  seeing  so  many  people  in  this  building,  and  by 
seeing  such  an  extended  choir  on  each  side  of  the 
organ.  The  other  occasion  was  when  Edward 
Everett  returned  from  Europe,  and  Dr.  Freeman  — 
who  had  a talent  for  discovering  genius  and  ability 
in  young  men,  and  a great  admiration  of  genius  and 
ability  wherever  it  was  found — asked  him  to  preach 
in  this  pulpit  on  Christmas  Day ; and  not  only  was 
every  seat  full,  but  this  middle  aisle  was  filled  with 
people  standing.  Dr.  Freeman  admired  Buckmin- 
ister,  he  admired  Dr.  Channing,  he  admired  James 
Walker, — all  men  younger  than  himself, — and  was 
very  fond  of  having  them  here. 

But  it  is,  perhaps,  a privilege  which  belongs  to 
me,  to  remember  a few  of  those  shadowy  forms 
whom  our  friend  President  Eliot  spoke  of  as  com- 
ing before  his  eyes.  In  the  Governor’s  pew,  when 
it  was  as  you  have  rearranged  it  to-day,  before  it 
had  been  put  on  a level  with  the  other  pews,  that 
perfect  gentleman  William  Sullivan,  and  his  fam- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


I29 


ily,  used  to  sit;  and,  farther  down,  we  heard  the 
resonant  voice  of  Colonel  May  responding  to  the 
minister,  as  though  he  were  at  once  Aaron  and 
Hur,  ready  to  uphold  his  minister,  though  he  did 
it  alone.  And  there  was  William  Minot,  upright 
and  honorable,  son  of  one  of  Dr.  Freeman’s  dearest 
friends,  whose  descendants  are  with  us  still ; and 
there  were  the  Curtises,  upholders  and  strength- 
ened of  the  society,  whose  descendants  also  are 
with  us  to-day;  and  in  the  broad  aisle  the  Olivers, 
the  Storers,  and  Bulfinches,  and  Joseph  Coolidge, 
the  first  of  the  line,  in  the  red  cloak  which,  as 
I remember,  was  common  to  gentlemen  of  that 
day. 

They  are  all  with  us  here,  and  with  us  also  those 
dear  friends  who  have  been  spoken  of  with  such 
loyal  affection, — Greenwood,  who  when  he  came  to 
this  Chapel  seemed  to  us  who  were  younger  like 
a very  angel  of  God,  charming  in  person,  in  voice, 
in  delivery,  in  gesture,  and  whose  writings  also 
had  a charm  which  will  make  them  remembered  as 
long  as  English  literature  remains  ; and  then  the 
dear  friend  who  has  been  spoken  of  just  now, 
Ephraim  Peabody.  Not  a word  too  much  has  been 
said  of  him.  He  was  great  in  the  greatest  way; 
a man  of  deep  but  manly  piety,  without  a shadow 
of  pretence  of  any  sort ; a man  who  was  independ- 
ent in  the  highest  degree,  and  of  whose  conversa- 
tion in  private  I think  it  may  be  said  that  he  who 
heard  him  talk  for  half  an  hour  wished  to  hear  him 
talk  on  through  all  the  day. 


130 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


So  much  must  be  permitted  to  one  who  remem- 
bers a great  way  back ; and  now,  though  my  friend 
Wendell  Holmes  is  about  to  give  us  a poem,  may  I 
venture  to  read  a few  lines  of  verse  which  I will  not 
call  poetry,  but  which  may  be  a kind  of  prelude  to 
his  opera : — 

As  our  New  England  elm,  the  queen  of  trees, 

Lifts  its  vast  urn  of  foliage  to  the  breeze, 

Stirred  by  each  air  that  thrills  its  graceful  form, 

Or  tossing  wildly  in  the  driving  storm, 

Yet  by  its  mighty  roots  is  anchored  fast, — 

So  all  our  life  is  rooted  in  the  past: 

Through  all  our  struggles,  hopes,  through  good  and  ill, 
The  memories  of  childhood  hold  us  still. 

Church  of  my  boyhood  ! as  we  gather  here, 

Shades  of  the  past,  long  buried,  reappear. 

I see  beside  you  other  forms  and  faces, 

Another  congregation  takes  your  places. 

This  dear  old  church  with  living  lustre  burns 
When  all  the  immemorial  past  returns. 

From  that  old-fashioned  pulpit,  in  my  youth, 

Came  the  calm  voice  of  simple,  earnest  truth,— 
Words  of  an  honest  man,  who  left  the  broad 
Highway  of  custom  for  a lonely  road, 

Firm  to  resist  each  rude,  opposing  shock, — 

Like  Hindu  temple,  cut  in  solid  rock. 

And  not  in  vain  ; for  where  he  made  a way 
We  enter  into  Freedom’s  home  to-day. 

He  helped  to  build,  with  new  and  better  rules, 

Our  literature,  society,  and  schools, 


WILLIAM  DUMMER. 


(Lieut.-Governor  1716-1730.) 


* 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


131 


Working  with  men  of  every  name  and  creed,  — 

With  Cheverus,  though  unsainted,  saint  indeed ; 

With  Mather  Byles  or  Holley  took  his  stand, 

Holding  a heretic’s  or  bishop’s  hand; 

To  all  good  work  his  ready  help  would  lend ; 

Of  young  and  old  the  counsellor  and  friend; 

And  was,  when  round  his  form  Time’s  mantle  fell, 
That  “Indian  summer”  he  described  so  well. 

The  past  is  gone ! but  let  the  coming  race 
Keep  this  old  Chapel  ever  in  its  place. 

Long  may  it  stand  for  truth,  and  every  son 
Join  in  still  better  work  as  time  rolls  on ! 

And  let  its  children,  wheresoe’er  they  roam, 

Hold  fast  the  lessons  of  their  early  home ; 

And  ’mid  temptation’s  wild  and  stormy  blast 
May  this  old  anchor  ever  hold  them  fast ! 

The  Minister  then  said : “ The  Poet  who  for  long  years 
has  found  a home  amid  these  associations,  will  now  touch 
for  us  some  of  their  chords.” 

POEM. 

BY  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES,  M.D.,  L.L.D.,  D.C.L. 

Is  it  a weanling’s  weakness  for  the  past 
That  in  the  stormy,  rebel-breeding  town, 

Swept  clean  of  relics  by  the  levelling  blast, 

Still  keeps  our  gray  old  Chapel’s  name  of  “ King’s,” 
Still  to  its  outworn  symbols  fondly  clings, 

Its  unchurched  mitres  and  its  empty  crown? 

Poor,  harmless  emblems ! All  has  shrunk  away 
That  made  them  Gorgons  in  the  patriot’s  eyes; 

The  priestly  plaything  harms  us  not  to-day; 


132 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


The  gilded  crown  is  but  a pleasing  show, 

An  Old-World  heirloom  left  from  long  ago, 

Wreck  of  the  past  that  memory  bids  us  prize. 

Lightly  we  glance  the  fresh-cut  marbles  o’er; 

Those  two  of  earlier  date  our  eyes  enthrall : 

The  proud  old  Briton’s  by  the  western  door; 

And  hers,  the  lady  of  colonial  days, 

Whose  virtues  live  in  long-drawn  classic  phrase,  — 

The  fair  Francisca  of  the  southern  wall. 

Ay ! those  were  goodly  men  that  Reynolds  drew, 

And  stately  dames  our  Copley’s  canvas  holds  ; 

To  their  old  church,  their  royal  master,  true, 

Proud  of  the  claim  their  valiant  sires  had  earned. 

That  “ gentle  blood,”  not  lightly  to  be  spurned, 

Save  by  the  churl  ungenerous  Nature  moulds. 

All  vanished  ! It  were  idle  to  complain 

That  ere  the  fruits  shall  come  the  flowers  must  fall ; 
Yet  somewhat  we  have  lost  amid  our  gain, 

Some  rare  ideals  time  may  not  restore,  — 

The  charm  of  courtly  breeding,  seen  no  more, 

And  reverence,  dearest  ornament  of  all. 

Thus  musing,  to  the  western  wall  I came. 

Departing,  — lo  ! a tablet  fresh  and  fair, 

Where  glistened  many  a youth’s  remembered  name 
In  golden  letters  on  the  snow-white  stone,  — 

Young  lives  these  aisles  and  arches  once  have  known, 
Their  country’s  bleeding  altar  might  not  spare. 

These  died  that  we  might  claim  a soil  unstained 
Save  by  the  blood  of  heroes ; their  bequests, 

A realm  unsevered  and  a race  unchained. 

Has  purer  blood  through  Norman  veins  come  down 
From  the  rough  knights  that  clutched  the  Saxon’s  crown 
Than  warmed  the  pulses  in  these  faithful  breasts? 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


133 


These,  too,  shall  live  in  history’s  deathless  page, 

High  on  the  slow-wrought  pedestals  of  fame, 
Ranged  with  the  heroes  of  remoter  age : 

They  could  not  die  who  left  their  nation  free, 

Firm  as  the  rock,  unfettered  as  the  sea, 

Its  heaven  unshadowed  by  the  cloud  of  shame. 

While  on  the  storied  past  our  memory  dwells, 

Our  grateful  tribute  shall  not  be  denied,  — 

The  wreath,  the  cross  of  rustling  immortelles; 

And  willing  hands  shall  clear  each  darkening  bust, 

As  year  by  year  sifts  down  the  clinging  dust 
On  Shirley’s  beauty  and  on  Vassall’s  pride. 

But  for  our  own,  our  loved  and  lost,  we  bring 

With  throbbing  hearts  and  tears  that  still  must  flow, 
In  full-heaped  hands,  the  opening  flowers  of  spring, — 
Lilies  half  blown,  and  budding  roses,  red 
As  their  young  cheeks  before  the  blood  was  shed 
That  lent  their  morning  bloom  its  generous  glow. 

Ah ! who  shall  count  a rescued  nation’s  debt, 

Or  sum  in  words  our  martyrs’  silent  claims? 

Who  shall  our  heroes’  dread  exchange  forget,  — 

All  life,  youth,  hope,  could  promise  to  allure 
For  all  that  soul  could  brave  or  flesh  endure? 

They  shaped  our  future : we  but  carve  their  names. 


The  Minister  then  said:  “The  Plummer  Professor 
Emeritus  comes  to  us  here  as  preacher,  in  a very  true  sense 
a pastor  long  familiar  to  this  church,  friend,  and  fellow- 
worshipper.  No  one  knows  better  than  he  the  quality 
of  men  who  have  made  this  congregation  in  the  past,  and 
the  quality  that  must  continue  in  order  to  make  the  Chris- 
tian church  a vital  force  in  the  modern  world.  After  him, 


134 


king's  chapel,  boston. 


in  closing  these  services,  another  will  speak  to  you,  in  whom 
many  associations  meet.  A living  church  cannot  live,  and 
will  not  seek  to  live,  upon  its  history  alone.  Together  with 
the  backward-looking  reverence  it  will  desire  to  have  the 
forward  and  the  upward  look ; and  so  in  the  name  of  our 
memories  and  our  hopes  we  shall  ask  Professor  Francis 
Greenwood  Peabody  to  conclude  this  service.” 

ADDRESS. 

BY  REV.  ANDREW  PRESTON  PEABODY,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Plummer  Professor  Emeritus  in  Harvard  University. 

“There  shall  be  like  people,  like  priest.”  So 
ran  the  words  of  the  curse  which  Hosea  pro- 
nounced on  the  house  of  Israel,  — words  which, 
uttered  here  a century  ago,  would  have  been  a pro- 
phetic benediction,  the  fulfilment  of  which  we  cele- 
brate to-day  with  gratitude  and  gladness.  But  they 
are  less  a specific  prediction  than  the  statement  of  a 
special  case  under  a general  law.  In  all  relations, 
— domestic,  social,  public,  — the  tendency  to  assim- 
ilation is  inevitable,  and  in  none  more  truly  so  than 
in  a Christian  congregation.  The  members  of  a 
church  choose  a minister  after  their  own  ideal,  which 
though  it  can  hardly  be  bad,  may  be  coarse  and  low ; 
and  if  they  are  mistaken  in  the  man,  unless  they 
speedily  rid  themselves  of  him,  they  rise  or  sink 
toward  his  level.  Conversely,  wherever  there  can 
be  a choice  of  churches,  the  minister  both  attracts 
and  shapes  his  like ; and  if  he  has  the  best  of  pa- 
rishioners, he  has  borne  no  small  part  in  making 
them  so.  To  men  and  women  of  even  the  strongest 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


135 


minds  and  characters,  it  is  of  no  little  consequence 
what  sort  of  worship  they  engage  in  and  what  sort 
of  preaching  they  hear  at  church.  Sunday  is  the 
day  for  receiving,  to  those  who  are  imparting  all 
the  rest  of  the  week.  If  there  be  a heart-altar,  it 
depends  in  large  part  for  fuel  on  the  Sunday  pile  ; 
and  it  makes  a great  difference  whether  from  that 
pile  be  fed  a mere  crackling  of  thorns,  or  a steady, 
generous  flame. 

The  ministers  of  whose  eminent  worth  you  have 
heard  from  my  brethren  could  not  but  have  had  in 
their  flock  men  and  women  of  the  noblest  type,  and 
could  not  but  have  made  and  left  their  own  indelible 
impress  on  those  to  whom  they  ministered. 

My  more  intimate  connection  with  this  church 
commenced  in  the  autumn  of  i860;  and  its  pulpit 
continued  under  my  charge  for  more  than  a year, 
till  the  settlement  of  my  very  dear  friend  and  pastor, 
the  present  minister.  During  my  period  of  service, 
the  wardens  were  William  Thomas  and  Gardner 
Brewer,  to  both  of  whom  I was  indebted  for  constant 
and  manifold  kindness,  and  whose  assiduous  care 
for  their  sacred  charge  I hold  in  reverent  memory. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  be  often  with  Mr.  Thomas 
during  his  weary  months  of  decline  and  suffering, 
and  to  see  that  the  principles  which  had  sustained 
him  in  an  upright  and  generous  life  sufficed  for  his 
support  when  all  that  remained  for  him  was  to  await 
the  long-lingering  summons  to  go  up  higher.  With 
him,  what  a goodly  company  have  passed  on  to  the 
temple  above  ! And  their  works  have  not  followed 


136 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


them,  but  remain  for  the  firmer  and  higher  upbuild- 
ing of  truth  and  righteousness.  To  name  only  a 
few  of  those  whom  I have  known  personally, — I re- 
call James  Jackson,  whose  benignant  presence  fully 
shared  with  his  surpassing  science  and  skill  the  con- 
quest of  disease  and  suffering  ; William  Minot,  than 
whom  no  man  ever  had  more  fully  the  confidence, 
respect,  and  reverence  of  the  whole  community,  who 
told  the  secret,  the  open  secret,  of  his  life,  when  on 
the  margin  of  the  death-river  he  said,  “ I have  no 
hope  but  in  my  Saviour,  — through  him  alone  I have 
a trembling,  yet  confident  assurance  of  heavenly 
happiness ; ” Charles  Pelham  Curtis,  long  a most 
efficient  officer  and  care-taker  of  this  church,  in 
which  he  was  loved  and  honored,  and  but  one  of  a 
family  largely  and  still  identified  with  the  Christian 
worship,  work,  and  cherished  fellowship  of  King’s 
Chapel ; Thomas  Bulfinch,  by  both  parents  the  rich 
inheritor  of  ancestral  virtues,  — an  accomplished 
scholar,  too,  — whose  modesty  would  have  veiled 
the  light  of  his  pure  and  sweet  life,  had  it  not 
been  kindled  from  that  central  sun  whose  rays  a 
meek  and  lowly  spirit  cannot  hide;  John  Amory 
Lowell,  toward  whom  there  seemed  a perpetual 
gravitation  of  trusts  of  the  highest  moment,  that 
would  have  weighed  down  almost  any  other  man, 
but  which  only  brought  out  into  the  clearer  relief 
his  wisdom,  his  fertility  of  resource,  and  his  un- 
surpassed fidelity ; Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  walking 
in  his  uprightness  in  sunshine  and  in  shadow, 
who  could  no  more  have  swerved  from  the  right 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 37 

than  the  stars  from  their  courses;  Joseph  Coolidge, 
than  whom  this  church  had  no  more  loyal  and  no 
more  worthy  member,  his  heart-home  always  here 
in  distant  sojourns  and  in  far-off  lands ; George 
Barrell  Emerson,  the  pioneer  of  reformed  and  truly 
Christian  education,  whose  school  was  always  a 
sanctuary,  and  its  training,  no  less  for  heaven  than 
for  earth;  Francis  Cabot  Lowell,  who,  in  blended 
dignity  and  grace,  in  transparent  purity  of  soul  and 
of  life,  presented  all  the  traits  that  go  to  make  up 
that  highest  style  of  man,  the  Christian  gentleman  ; 
Edward  Pickering,  meet  representative  of  a family 
illustrious  equally  for  public  service  and  for  private 
worth  ; my  friend  and  classmate,  Joshua  Thomas 
Stevenson,  who,  in  the  stress  of  arduous  official  duty, 
found  time  and  heart  for  hardly  less  arduous  work  in 
the  Hospital,  whose  interests,  in  pure  philanthropy, 
he  made  his  special  charge;  George  Tyler  Bigelow, 
so  admirably  fitted  to  preside  in  a court  on  whose 
integrity  not  a momentary  cloud  has  ever  rested. 
This  list  which,  had  I time,  I should  more  than 
double,  I must  close  with  the  last  of  those  who  have 
gone  from  us, — Charles  Francis  Adams,  whose  name 
will  gain  new  lustre  with  the  lapse  of  years,  whom 
posterity  will  regard  as  having  borne  at  least  as  im- 
portant a part  in  our  country’s  second  birth  as  his 
grandfather  in  the  conflict  through  which  it  first 
struggled  into  life.  These  with  whom  I have  wor- 
shipped here,  and  many  others  of  kindred  spirit, 
with  not  a few  saintly  women,  whom  I need  not 
name  to  recall  them  to  your  thought,  come  back  to 

18 


138  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

me  from  the  years  that  have  gone,  in  living,  grateful, 
loving  remembrance. 

Such  a record  craves  and  claims  continuance. 
These  sacred  memories  ought  to  be  prophetic.  My 
friends  of  this  church,  you  truly  honor  its  fathers 
only  by  being  their  worthy  children.  Let  what  you 
praise  in  them  not  be  buried  in  their  graves,  but 
live  anew,  and  ever  on,  in  your  loyal  Christian  life- 
work.  Be  it  your  care  to  transmit  for  the  next 
centennial  a roll  of  honor  — of  the  honor  that 
comes  not  from  man,  but  from  God  — like  that  to- 
day, too  full  and  long  to  be  rehearsed  within  the 
memorial  hour. 


ADDRESS. 

BY  THE  REV.  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY. 

Plummer  Professor  in  Harvard  University. 

If  I were  to  add  anything  more  than  a few 
brief  sentences  to  what  has  been  already  said,  I 
should  not  only  be  contributing  what  was  super- 
fluous, but  I should  soon  make  some  of  you  suspect 
that  this  solemn  occasion  was  to  be  continued  until 
the  two  hundredth  and  two  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversaries  were  merged  into  one.  Yet  there  is 
one  note  among  this  series  of  noble  reminiscences 
which  has  not  yet  been  struck,  and  on  which  one  of 
the  younger  generation  may,  for  a closing  moment, 
not  unfitly  dwell.  It  is  the  note,  not  of  memory, 
but  of  hope.  It  is  the  impression  not  of  the  back- 
ward, but  of  the  forward  look.  I turn,  as  we  con- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 39 

elude  this  commemoration,  from  the  past  to  the 
future ; and  I ask,  What  has  this  ancient  church  to 
say  to  the  new  life  about  it,  and  to  the  religion 
whose  forms  and  methods  must  change  with  the 
changing  years  ? What  is  the  element  which  this 
long  and  honorable  history  is  now  ready  to  trans- 
mit as  its  peculiar  contribution  to  the  religion  of 
the  future,  and  which  we  can  now  sum  up,  not 
alone  in  terms  of  reverent  reminiscence,  but  in 
terms  of  prophetic  hope.  I can  answer  this  only  as 
I recall,  in  perhaps  too  personal  a way,  the  impres- 
sion which  this  church  has  made  upon  the  one  life 
I happen  to  know  best. 

When  I look  back,  as  a child  of  this  church,  and 
try  to  reckon  its  influence,  my  first  impression  is 
mingled  and  confusing.  Every  early  experience 
which  I can  confess  of  any  sacredness  or  perma- 
nence or  depth  had  its  origin  and  its  blessing  here. 
I remember  trivial  incidents  and  serious  ones, 
friendships  and  sermons,  festivities  and  solemnities, 
the  dreams  and  the  prayers  of  youth ; and  behind 
all,  there  remains  the  dim  reminiscence  of  one  per- 
sonality of  whom  I think  when  I read  of  the  insight 
given  to  the  pure  in  heart,  and  of  the  life  that  was 
founded  upon  a Rock.  Yet  when  I try  to  read 
what  lies  behind  all  these  different  influences,  it 
seems  to  be  plain  enough.  The  fundamental  im- 
pression made  by  this  church  on  at  least  one  young 
life  remains  entirely  distinct.  It  was  not  made  by 
its  preaching,  however  eloquent,  or  by  its  architec- 
ture, however  beautiful ; but  by  the  subtile  atmos- 


140  KINGS  CHAPEL,  BOSTON. 

phere  which  has  always  prevailed  here,  of  reverence, 
of  piety,  and  of  prayer.  I thank  God  that  I was 
born  into  a church  which  must  be  peculiarly  de- 
scribed as  worshipful.  No  other  impression  could 
be  made  by  a place  like  this.  Surrounded  by  these 
monuments  of  piety,  encircled  by  these  graves,  set 
with  its  repose  in  the  midst  of  these  busy  streets, 
such  a place  quiets  and  subdues  at  its  very  gateway 
even  the  most  boisterous  boy ; nor  did  I ever  know 
a preacher  who  could  find  this  pulpit  adapted  to 
anything  but  his  most  serious,  devout,  and  lofty 
utterance.  I thank  God  that  my  first  recollections 
are  of  this  sense  of  reverence,  and  that  I never 
can  outgrow  this  view  of  the  function  of  a church. 
We  hear  much  about  adapting  our  churches  to  the 
life  of  to-day,  and  making  them  social,  homelike, 
and  modern.  I am  thankful  that  my  memories  are 
not  of  church  sociables  and  parish  kitchens,  but 
of  a place  filled  with  the  sense  of  God,  and  in 
which  human  associations  were  subordinated  and 
accessory.  We  hear  much,  also,  about  making  the 
Sunday-school  the  children’s  church,  and  freeing  the 
young  from  their  fatiguing  attendance  on  general 
worship.  I am  thankful  that  I was  born  before  this 
new  regime , which  puts  asunder  on  the  Lord’s  day 
the  families  whom  God  hath  joined  together,  and 
which  makes  the  Sunday-school  the  rival,  if  not  the 
enemy,  of  the  Church.  I owe  many  debts  to  faith- 
ful teachers  here,  but  most  of  all  am  I indebted  to 
them  for  never  creating  in  my  mind  any  doubt  as 
to  where  the  centre  of  Sunday  lay.  It  lay  for  me 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  141 

in  the  midst  of  my  family  in  their  common  wor- 
ship. It  lay  for  me  where  I for  the  most  part  lay 
throughout  the  sermon,  — 

“ At  that  best  academe,  a mother’s  knee.” 

I owe  more  Christian  conviction  to  these  circum- 
stances of  repose  than  to  all  my  catechetical  instruc- 
tion ; and  if  there  is  any  blessing  which  I feel  sure 
is  to  be  permanent  for  my  own  children,  and  which 
is  a blessing  for  their  parents  also,  it  is  that  they 
have  never  yet  heard  any  discussion  as  to  the  rel- 
ative claims  of  Church  and  Sunday-school ; that 
church-going  is  one  of  their  earliest  ambitions,  and 
that  they  are  able  to  find  repose  in  arms  which  make 
it  a part  of  worship  to  welcome  and  hold  them. 

I thank  God,  then,  for  the  influence  of  a wor- 
shipful church  ; and  as  I,  with  the  younger  genera- 
tion, look  forward  from  this  commemoration  of  the 
past  to  the  problems  of  the  future,  this  is  the  ele- 
ment of  a permanent  faith  for  which  we  look  to 
a church  like  this.  What  the  religion  of  our  time 
has  to  fear  is  not  that  it  shall  be  unscientific  in  its 
thought,  or  unpractical  in  its  conduct.  Never  be- 
fore have  the  churches  applied  themselves  as  they 
are  now  doing  to  the  worthy  tasks  of  scientific 
theology  and  of  practical  usefulness.  But  what  we 
have  to  fear  is  this : that  in  this  great  and  wise 
transition  into  clearer  thinking  and  better  doing  we 
may  pass  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  devout  feeling 
and  prayerful  meditation,  the  only  atmosphere  which 
is  religion’s  native  air.  We  should  then  be  trying 


142 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


to  gather  the  fruits  of  life  without  nourishing  the 
roots  of  life.  We  should  find  small  gain  in  the 
science  of  religion,  if  we  lost  the  experience  of 
religion.  We  should  have  no  legitimate  basis  for  a 
common  life  of  work,  if  we  had  no  common  life  of 
prayer.  Such  is  the  lesson  which  many  a soul  has 
learned,  as  it  has  turned  alike  from  its  thought  and 
from  its  work  to  the  influences  of  this  holy  place ; 
and  such  will  still  be  the  message  of  this  church  to 
a restless  and  fretful  world.  May  it  still  stand 
among  us  for  the  foundations  of  religion,  for  rever- 
ence, for  piety,  for  worship,  so  that  the  young  of 
the  new  time  shall  bless  it  as  the  fathers  of  the  old 
time  have  done ! Let  the  tides  of  the  city  ebb  with 
the  night  about  it  into  rest,  and  let  the  returning 
flood  sweep  about  it  with  the  roar  of  each  new  day. 
Still  may  it  stand,  as  it  so  long  has  done,  like  a 
light-house  set  in  the  midst  of  a surging  and  danger- 
ous sea,  with  its  light  kept  burning  and  its  message 
of  a quiet  harbor  for  the  soul. 

After  the  singing  of  an  Anthem,  the  services  closed 
with  the  Benediction  by  the  Rev.  John  Cordner,  LL.D. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


CORRESPONDENCE.1 


Jfront  ©fftcial  ant)  otljer  Inrntcb  (Attest*. 

Mr.  Oliver  Ames  accepts  with  pleasure  the  invitation  of  King’s 
Chapel  to  attend  the  commemorative  services  on  the  15th  inst. 
Boston,  Dec.  6,  1886. 


Mayor’s  Office,  City  Hall, 
Boston,  Dec.  8,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — His  Honor  Mayor  O’Brien  accepts  your  kind  invi- 
tation to  attend  the  services  at  King’s  Chapel  December  15,  and 
thanks  the  Committee  for  the  same. 

Yours  respectfully, 

N.  H.  Taylor, 

Mayor's  Secretary. 


War  Department,  Office  of  the  Secretary, 
Washington,  Dec.  10,  1886. 

Gentlemen,  — I beg  to  acknowledge  with  thanks  the  receipt  of 
the  cordial  invitation  of  King’s  Chapel,  Boston,  to  attend  the  ser- 
vices which  are  to  be  held  on  the  15  th  instant,  in  commemoration 
of  its  completion  of  two  hundred  years. 

I regret  very  much  that  it  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  be  in  Bos- 
ton on  that  date,  and  I must  therefore  forego  the  pleasure  of  being 
present  on  so  interesting  an  occasion. 

I am  very  truly  yours, 

William  C.  Endicott. 

1 Many  letters  were  received  from  gentlemen  invited  to  attend  the  cele- 
bration, and  a few  of  them  are  here  given. 


146 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


Senate  Chamber,  Washington,  Dec.  8,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — I am  very  sorry  that  I cannot  attend  the  services 
on  December  15.  The  occasion  will  be  one  of  very  great  interest 
to  all  persons  who  are  proud  of  the  history  of  Massachusetts ; but 
my  duty  requires  me  to  be  elsewhere  on  that  day. 

I am  yours  very  truly, 

George  F.  Hoar. 


90  Marlborough  Street,  Boston,  Dec.  8,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Foote,  — I thank  you  sincerely  for  your  most 
kind  invitation  of  the  3d  instant.  It  would  afford  me  real  pleasure 
to  accept  it,  and  to  say  a few  words  at  the  commemoration  of  the 
two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  King’s  Chapel. 
But  the  state  of  my  health  at  this  moment  compels  me  to  deny 
myself  to  all  public  occasions. 

Though  none  of  the  Winthrops  of  the  olden  time  were  con- 
nected with  your  venerable  church,  I may  claim  two  direct  ances- 
tors among  those  who  have  a distinguished  place  in  its  annals,  — 
Governor  Joseph  Dudley,  and  the  famous  John  Nelson.  You  have 
mentioned  them  both  in  your  admirable  first  volume. 

But  my  own  personal  associations  with  your  church  are  far 
more  precious  to  me.  I cannot  forget  that  during  not  a few  of 
my  earlier  years  I was  in  the  habit  of  attending  afternoon  service 
at  King’s  Chapel,  and  I can  honestly  say  that  I recall  the  sermons 
of  Dr.  Greenwood  and  Dr.  Ephraim  Peabody  as  among  the  most 
impressive  and  inspiring  to  which  I have  ever  listened.  Two  more 
saint-like  men  I have  never  known,  and  their  friendship  was  among 
the  privileges  of  my  life. 

I never  pass  the  corner  of  School  Street  without  rejoicing  that 
King’s  Chapel  has  survived  the  ravages  of  time  and  chance,  and 
that  it  promises  to  remain  as  a monument  of  Old  Boston,  keeping 
watch  over  the  graves  of  the  Founders.  Esto  perpetua  ! 

Believe  me,  dear  Mr.  Foote,  with  renewed  thanks  and  warm 
regard, 

Yours  very  truly, 

RobT  C.  Winthrop. 

Rev.  H.  W.  Foote,  Rector  of  King’s  Chapel. 


THOMAS  POWNALL. 

(Governor  1757-1760.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


147 


Dorchester,  Dec.  16,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — I am  grateful  for  your  very  kind  remembrance 
of  me  and  the  card  which  came  so  timely  as  an  “ open  sesame  ” to 
the  opening  services  of  the  third  century  of  King’s  Chapel,  and  the 
closing  chapters  of  the  first  two.  It  was  not  unfitting  that  old 
Swansea  should  have  a representation  at  the  gathering,  for  Samuel 
Myles,  the  rector  of  thirty-nine  years  from  1689  to  1728,  was  the 
son  of  our  John  Myles,  of  Swansea  history.  Reference  is  made  to 
Samuel  Myles  on  page  80  of  my  “ Historical  Sketches  of  Bar- 
rington.” While  in  the  old  Chapel  I thought  also  of  the  grave  of 
an  ancestor  in  the  old  churchyard,  Mary  Chilton,  of  Plymouth 
Rock  tradition. 

May  I bespeak  your  kind  offices  for  a copy  of  the  Proceedings 
of  yesterday,  when  printed  ? 

Most  truly, 

Thomas  W.  Bicknell. 


Dorchester,  Dec.  12,  1886. 

Gentlemen,  — I am  very  grateful  for  the  invitation  you  have 
extended  to  me  to  be  present  on  the  celebration  of  the  two  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  King’s  Chapel.  I should  enjoy  the  honor 
and  privilege  exceedingly,  as  I have  in  my  own  veins  some  of  the 
blood  which  your  Rev.  Pastor  and  myself  have  inherited  from  the 
Wilders ; but  above  all  to  participate  with  you  and  the  host  that 
will  be  present  on  the  occasion,  in  the  renown,  prosperity,  and  in- 
fluence of  the  institution  for  the  good  of  our  city,  and  the  welfare 
of  mankind.  So  may  it  go  on  prospering  and  to  prosper  until  we 
shall  have  done  worshipping  in  chapels  on  earth,  and  finally  be 
assembled  in  the  King’s  Chapel  above. 

As  ever  yours, 

Marshall  P.  Wilder.1 

(1798-1886.) 

1 The  death  of  the  venerable  President  of  the  New  England  Historic 
Genealogical  Society  took  place  on  the  day  following  our  services, — Decem- 
ber 16,  1886. 


148 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


.from  .former  J)ari*I)ioner$  aitb  pegcettbant*  of  tlje  (£I)ttrd). 

130  Pacific  Street, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  n,  1886. 

My  dear  Brother,  — It  is  really  very  sad  for  me  to  be  com- 
pelled to  forego  the  high  satisfaction  and  pleasure  of  uniting  with 
you  and  your  people  in  celebrating  the  two  hundredth  anniversary 
of  my  ever  dear  and  venerable  birthright  church.  Especially  do 
I value  the  kind  words  in  which  you  express  the  wishes  of  yourself 
and  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  that  I should  be  present 
and  offer  the  Prayer  on  this  most  interesting  occasion.  The  latter 
office  thus  kindly  proffered  I deem  a marked  compliment.  Be 
assured  that  that  prayer  is  already  as  fervent  at  heart  as  it  could, 
be  if  breathed  out  in  that  beloved  sanctuary  on  Wednesday.  The 
condition  of  my  family  and  a sense  of  proper  regard,  at  my  age 
and  under  medical  advice,  to  the  risks  of  the  season  control  me ; 
and  thanking  you  and  your  Committee  most  heartily,  I yield  with 
as  good  grace  as  I can. 

But  memory  will  go  back  to  the  past,  and  I must  jot  down  a few 
of  its  ramblings.  My  earliest  recollections  of  the  church  cluster 
about  the  pastor  of  my  childhood  and  youth,  — the  venerable, 
beloved,  and  saintly  Freeman ; him  who  made  King’s  Chapel  the 
pioneer  church  of  our  precious  and  liberal  faith  in  the  Republic. 
That  sweet  and  gentle  spirit  shone  in  his  every  tone  and  manner, 
made  him  delightful  in  his  intercourse  with  the  young  of  his  flock, 
and  his  presence  in  our  homes  was  always  an  occasion  hailed  and 
remembered  with  pleasure.  For  his  sympathies  were  the  quickest 
and  warmest;  he  truly  rejoiced  with  them  that  rejoiced,  and 
wept  with  them  that  wept.  Never  can  I forget,  when  on  a Sunday 
morning  my  beloved  mother  — whose  image  is  as  fresh  as  of  yester- 
day in  my  memory  — was  lying  in  the  last  stage  of  lingering  con- 
sumption, and  I was  about  going  to  church,  my  father  told  me  to 
ask  Dr.  Freeman  after  service  to  come  home  with  me.  The  good 
man  did.  My  mother  was  too  feeble  to  speak,  but  perfectly  con- 
scious. Dr.  Freeman  bent  over  her  to  say  a few  parting  words, 
and  then  knelt  at  her  bedside  in  prayer.  Her  hand  lay  in  his, 
and  the  change  in  his  utterance  as  he  prayed,  first  told  us  that 
her  angel  spirit  had  fled. 


TWO 


,uo.’i  v^ERSARY. 


149 


My  remembrance  of  the  Doctor’s  preaching  is  very  distinct  from 
my  youth  up.  His  manner  was  quiet,  but  earnest  and  honest, 
reverent  and  dignified  in  its  impressiveness.  You  felt  that  he 
meant  every  word.  Yet  though  prevailingly  calm,  — far,  certainly, 
from  being  emotional  in  public  discourse,  — so  strong  and  tender 
were  his  affections  and  so  keen  his  sensibilities,  that  I have  seen 
him  in  the  pulpit  so  swayed  and  overpowered  by  emotion  as  to  be 
brought  to  a full  stop,  unable  to  utter  a word.  Notably  on  one 
occasion,  in  preaching  a funeral  sermon  on  a dear  and  distin- 
guished friend,  and  his  audience  in  full  sympathy  with  him,  he 
was  compelled  to  give  way  to  his  tears  and  sit  down. 

His  style  was  in  general  didactic,  and  his  themes  largely  ethical 
and  practical,  addressed  to  the  clear  reason  and  thought  of  his 
hearers.  But  as  proof  that  he  could  rivet  the  attention  of  even  the 
young,  I gained  when  a mere  boy  my  first  intelligent  impressions 
of  the  significance  of  the  early  portions  of  Genesis,  and  of  the 
Bible  itself,  from  a series  of  discourses  in  which  he  unfolded  and 
justified  an  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve, 
the  Temptation  and  the  Fall.  During  a college  vacation,  my  atten- 
tion was  so  held  by  two  sermons  on  “ The  Honest  Man,”  that  I 
begged  permission  to  read  and  make  an  abstract  of  them,  — which 
he  at  once  granted. 

As  my  ordination  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  1828  approached,  I 
specially  desired  that  Dr.  Freeman  should  give  me  the  charge. 
About  a year  before,  on  account  of  bodily  infirmities,  he  had 
retired  from  professional  duty  to  his  farm  at  Newton,  and  I there- 
fore consulted  his  colleague  and  successor  Dr.  Greenwood,  who, 
though  feeling  confident  that  he  would  from  necessity  decline, 
thought  he  would  be  gratified  at  being  thus  remembered,  and  pro- 
posed to  go  at  once  with  me  to  Newton.  The  Doctor  received  us 
with  his  wonted  cordiality,  and  on  understanding  my  errand  thanked 
me  ; then,  in  substance,  and  in  the  kindest  manner  he  said  : “ I wish 
I could,  but  it  is  impossible.  I cannot  go  to  Providence.  I will 
charge  you,  however,  here  and  now.”  Accordingly,  in  the  most 
thoughtful  and  affectionate  way,  he  talked  to  me  on  the  nature, 
duties,  and  responsibilities  of  the  office  I was  about  to  undertake. 
Then,  with  a spice  of  humor  in  his  look  and  manner,  — gently 
whipping  my  companion  over  my  back,  — he  charged  me  to  finish 
my  sermons  before  entering  the  pulpit,  and  not  (glancing  mean- 


kijnT? 


ON. 


ingly  at  his  colleague),  like  some  of  the  brethren,  finish  them  there. 
He  ended  by  telling  us  that  during  the  forty-seven  years  of  his 
pastorate  he  never  worked  on  his  sermons  on  a Saturday,  but 
kept  that  day  for  recreation,  visiting,  and  receiving  visits ; and  on 
Sunday  went  fresh  to  his  public  duty. 

Dr.  Freeman’s  first  colleague,  as  you  well  know,  was  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Cary.  Soon  after  my  mother’s  death  in  November,  1813, 
my  father  prepared  to  abandon  housekeeping,  and  Mr.  Cary  at 
once  proposed  that  I should  live  with  him  till  entering  Harvard  at 
the  next  Commencement.  This,  as  it  proved,  pleasant  arrange- 
ment took  immediate  effect.  Mr.  Cary  had  no  children,  and  his 
family  consisted  of  his  wife,  her  unmarried  sister,  and  himself. 
Excellent  and  exemplary  in  all  his  relations,  and  thoroughly  de- 
voted to  his  ministry,  he  proved  to  me  a most  kind,  scholarly,  and 
Christian  friend,  helper,  and  counsellor  in  my  preparation  for  the 
University  and  for  maturer  life.  Happy,  most  happy  was  he  in 
his  marriage  to  Miss  Atkinson,  of  Middletown,  Conn.,  a lovely  and 
accomplished  woman,  in  all  respects  his  true  help-meet.  Together, 
though  childless,  their  home  was  all  that  hearty  mutual  affection 
and  fidelity,  pure  and  high  principle,  sincere  and  unostentatious 
piety  could  make  it.  I have  never  doubted  that  its  influence,  in 
the  ten  months  during  which  I shared  it,  largely  determined  the 
early  choice  and  final  adoption  of  my  present  and  long-time 
profession. 

But  see  still  how  my  fortunes  have  been  associated  in  some 
sense  all  along  with  King’s  Chapel,  and  what  reason  I have  to  be 
thankful  for  it.  After  debating  the  question  of  a profession  some 
six  months  after  graduation,  I at  last,  to  gratify  a parent’s  wish, 
entered  the  law-office  of  one  of  the  noblest  members  of  the  Bar 
and  of  your  parish,  the  late  William  Sullivan,  — always  to  the  hour  of 
his  death  a most  faithful  and  endeared  friend.  No  man  within 
my  memory  has  done  more  honor  to  the  Chapel  through  his 
devotedness  to  its  interests,  and  the  purity  and  elevation  of  his 
personal  character  as  a Christian  gentleman,  than  he. 

After  a long  interval  I preached  two  Sundays  in  March,  1867, 
in  the  Chapel;  and  some  half  hour  before  service,  on  the  first 
Sunday,  seated  myself  in  our  old  family  pew  (No.  76,  broad  aisle) 
to  meditate.  I was  interrupted  by  the  sexton,  who  saluted  me 
in  the  easy  way  of  an  old  acquaintance,  and  said  he  had  often 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 5 I 

handed  me  the  wonted  foot-stove  in  my  early  days.  He  gave  me 
as  his  the  ra:e  name  of  Smith,  — son  and  assistant  of  the  sexton  of 
the  same  name  in  my  boyhood ; his  successor,  and  with  a son  to 
assist  himself.  Verily  another  characteristic  illustration  of  that  per- 
manence of  things  with  you  to  which  I am  about  to  allude  ! I 
questioned  him  about  the  occupants  of  pews  here  and  there  within 
sight,  and  to  my  surprise  found  them  of  the  same  name  and  lineage 
with  those  whose  names  were  familiar  in  days  long  gone  by.  After 
service  I was  followed  to  the  vestry  room  by  several  gentlemen, 
and  telling  the  incident,  asked  your  senior  warden  of  that  day  — the 
late  esteemed  William  Thomas  — how  he  accounted  for  this  remark- 
able element  of  permanence  in  the  Society.  He  at  once  replied, 
“ By  the  use  of  our  Prayer  Book ; ” and  the  others  assented.  I 
was  instantly  reminded  that  on  my  return  voyage  from  Europe, 
in  1852,  I met  on  the  Cunarder  the  family  of  a late  prominent 
member  of  your  Society,  who  I knew  had  left  the  New  South 
Church  for  King’s  Chapel  at  the  time  his  friend  and  pastor  at 
the  former  — Dr.  Greenwood  — became  minister  of  the  latter. 
Walking  the  deck  one  day  with  him,  I asked  if  he  was  recon- 
ciled to  the  use  of  the  Liturgy.  He  replied : “ Entirely.  The 
best  proof  I can  give  you  is,  that  preparing  for  a long  absence 
abroad  I put  among  my  luggage  copies  for  each  of  my  family, 
with  three  or  four  extra  for  friends  we  might  meet ; and  we 
very  rarely  failed,  all  the  time  of  our  absence,  to  have  a Sunday 
morning  service.” 

It  has  seemed  to  me  a great  privilege,  my  dear  brother,  which 
you  are  enjoying,  and  on  which  I congratulate  you,  to  be  the 
pastor  and  historian  of  a church  so  hallowed  by  antiquity  and 
sacred  by  precious  memories  and  an  honorable  record,  — and  long 
may  it  be  your  lot ! What  a cloud  of  witnesses  to  its  fair  fame 
rise  up  from  the  past,  as  I recall  those  who  filled  its  pews  in 
my  early  life  ! Dalton  and  Gore  and  Sullivan  and  Curtis,  — the 
mural  tablets  on  its  walls  attesting  in  stone  the  worth  of  the  last 
two,  — the  Coolidges,  May,  Bulfinch,  Boott,  Pratt,  Motley,  and 
a crowd  of  others.  Within  my  knowledge  and  in  my  own  circle 
of  friendship  and  fraternity,  the  Chapel  has  been  too  the  nursery 
or  primary  school  of  several  of  our  liberal  clergy,  — Greenwood 
and  Sullivan,  and  May  and  Bulfinch,  all  departed  and  all  hon- 
ored ; and  one  more  who  survives,  — primus  inter  pares , — 


152 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


James  Freeman  Clarke.  And  “ long  may  he  survive  ” is,  I know, 
your  prayer  and  mine  ! 

Affectionately  yours, 

Frederick  A.  Farley. 


Florence,  Italy,  Jan.  8,  1887. 
Mr.  Francis  C.  Lowell,  50  State  Street,  Boston : 

Dear  Sir,  — I have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  (yes- 
terday) of  the  card  of  invitation  from  King’s  Chapel.  Please  con- 
vey to  the  gentlemen  of  the  Committee  my  sincere  thanks  for  the 
most  pleasant  greeting  of  the  new  year,  — a token  that,  after  so 
many  years  and  at  such  a distance  away,  I am  still  remembered  in 
the  old  stone  Chapel.  Say  to  them  that  I shall  never  cease  to 
remember  the  many  happy  hours  during  the  sixteen  years  that  my 
voice  was  lifted  in  the  service  of  the  dear  old  Church,  and  that  if 
anything  could  have  drawn  me  four  thousand  miles,  it  would  have 
been  once  more  to  join  in  the  harmony  on  the  occasion  of  her 
two  hundredth  anniversary. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Thomas  Ball. 


Mr.  Francis  Brinley  regrets  his  almost  total  blindness  deprives 
him  of  the  pleasure  to  accept  the  invitation  of  King’s  Chapel,  to 
attend  the  services  commemorative  of  the  completion  of  two  hun- 
dred years  of  its  existence,  especially  as  two  of  his  ancestors  were 
simultaneously  Church  Wardens,  and  that  the  family  tomb  is  in 
the  cemetery  adjacent  to  the  Chapel. 

Newport,  R.  I.,  December  8. 


Worcester,  Mass.,  Dec.  4,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — Thank  you  for  the  kind  invitation  to  attend  the 
services  commemorative  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
foundation  of  King’s  Chapel.  I accept  it  with  pleasure.  Perhaps 
my  college  classmate,  Rev.  Mr.  Foote,  suggested  that  an  invitation 
be  sent  to  me  because  he  remembered  that  my  mother  was  bap- 
tized in  King’s  Chapel  in  1807.  Her  father,  Samuel  Swett,  a ship- 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 53 

owner,  attended  church  there,  living  on  Winter  Street  at  the  time. 
During  my  mother’s  childhood,  however,  he  moved  to  Dedham ; 
but  she  often  attended  services  at  the  Chapel  subsequently  with  her 
old  neighbors  on  Winter  Street  and  intimate  friends,  the  family  of 
General  Dennison,  and  with  her  aunt,  who  had  the  charge  of  her 
after  her  mother’s  death,  Mrs.  Eustis,  the  wife  of  General  Abram 
Eustis,  whose  family  while  he  was  in  command  at  Fort  Indepen- 
dence attended  church  at  King’s  Chapel. 

Although  my  mother  has  just  passed  her  seventy-ninth  birth- 
day she  feels  young,  and  is  still  vigorous;  and  I know  that  it 
would  gratify  her  very  much  to  renew  the  recollections  of  her 
childhood  and  attend  the  anniversary  services  to  be  held  on  the 
15  th  instant 

Very  truly  yours, 

Samuel  S.  Green. 

Newport,  Dec.  8,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — I thank  you  most  heartily  for  the  invitation  to  the 
“ commemoration,”  but  I am  very  sorry  that  ill  health  will  prevent 
my  accepting  it. 

Let  me  not  fail,  however,  to  express  my  interest  in  King’s 
Chapel.  To  me  it  has  the  most  beautiful  interior  of  any  church 
in  America.  I love  to  think  of  it,  and  “ our  pew  ” is  distinct  far 
back  in  childhood.  I remember  dear  old  Dr.  Freeman.  He 
baptized  me  seventy-five  years  ago  — almost.  Sometimes  I have 
such  vivid  impression  of  the  baptism  — doubtless  often  told  me 
— that  it  seems  as  if  I recalled  the  scene.  At  any  rate  I do 
remember  being  with  other  children  at  the  altar,  and  the  cate- 
chism and  its  first  question,  “Who  made  you,  child?”  Pardon 
this,  and  with  renewed  thanks  for  your  attention  accept  my  ear- 
nest desires  for  a happy  commemoration,  and  God’s  blessing  on 
King’s  Chapel. 

Very  truly, 

Thatcher  Thayer. 


20 


i54 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


Jfrom  GTlerggntm. 

Clinton,  Dec.  6,  1886. 

Reverend  and  dear  Sir,  — Your  courteous  note  has  reached 
me  here,  inviting  me  to  take  part  in  the  very  interesting  commemo- 
ration at  King’s  Chapel  on  Wednesday  next. 

Allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the  invitation  extended  to  me  by  the 
Committee ; but  official  duties  in  another  part  of  the  State  will 
make  it  impracticable  for  me  to  be  present. 

I am,  sir,  with  much  respect, 

Yours  sincerely, 

Benjamin  H.  Paddock. 


Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  10, 1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — Permit  me  to  acknowledge  gratefully  the  cour- 
tesy of  an  invitation  to  the  approaching  historical  observance  at 
King’s  Chapel.  I wish  my  duties  here  allowed  me  to  be  present. 
My  recollections  of  the  months  when,  a student  at  Cambridge,  I 
read  the  service  for  Dr.  Greenwood,  are  very  delightful. 

With  high  esteem,  sincerely  yours, 

F.  D.  Huntington. 


Meadville,  Penn.,  Dec.  10,  1886. 

Mr.  Francis  C.  Lowell  : 

My  dear  Sir,  — I am  heartily  grateful  to  your  Committee  for 
the  invitation  to  attend  the  services  commemorating  the  two  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  King’s  Chapel,  — a place  endeared  to  me  by 
many  years’  association  with  its  worship  and  friendship  with  its 
minister.  Let  me  wish  for  the  church  long  endurance,  with  all 
its  venerable  belongings  and  associations,  on  the  familiar  spot ; and 
an  even  more  distinguished  service  in  the  future  than  in  the  past, 
for  the  broad  free  churchmanship  in  which  it  believes,  and  for 
which  it  stands  among  the  churches  of  our  body. 

Sincerely  and  heartily  yours, 


Henry  H.  Barber. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


155 


Boston,  Dec.  4, 1886. 

Dear  Mr.  Lowell,  — God  willing,  I shall  be  glad  to  be  at  the 
King’s  Chapel  commemoration. 

Cordially  yours, 

C.  A.  Bartol. 


626  Carlton  Avenue, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  7,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — My  thanks  are  due  to  your  Committee  for 
their  kind  invitation  to  the  services  commemorative  of  King’s 
Chapel’s  completion  of  two  hundred  years.  It  will  not  be  possible 
for  me  to  come,  but  I congratulate  your  people  heartily  upon  the 
long  and  honorable  history  of  their  church ; also  that  this  has  been 
so  admirably  written,  and  that  for  a quarter  of  a century  they  have 
had  the  continuous  service  of  their  present  minister,  and  have  been 
glad  in  him  as  he  has  been  in  them. 

Hoping  that  the  anniversary  services  will  be  a happy  incident 
of  your  long  career,  I am,  my  dear  Sir,  and  people  of  King’s 
Chapel, 

Very  truly  yours, 

John  W.  Chadwick. 


New  York,  Dec.  14,  1886. 

Gentlemen,  — I should  gladly  have  taken  the  journey  to  Boston 
this  evening  to  attend  King’s  Chapel  to-morrow,  had  I not  returned 
from  there  last  Thursday,  and  in  that  visit  used  up  all  my  time. 
King’s  Chapel  is  venerable  to  us  all  for  other  and  better  reasons 
than  its  fine  old  age,  though  that  also  is  a very  noble  distinction. 
In  my  great  County  of  York,  in  England,  there  is  a grand  old 
monastic  ruin,  near  which  some  great  yew-trees  stand,  sound  and 
strong,  under  which  men  say  the  masons  worked  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  church  and  home  of  the  brethren. 

And  the  secret  of  the  abiding  strength  of  the  great  trees,  they 
say,  is  this,  that  they  cast  off  what  is  dead  and  worthless  from  the 
surface,  and  renew  their  youth  forever  at  the  heart.  That  is  what 
King’s  Chapel  has  done  in  these  centuries,  and  what  its  lovers  and 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


156 

friends  are  glad  for.  If  we  could  all  be  there,  whose  hearts  beat 
warm  for  the  shrine  which  has  grown  so  sacred,  the  place  would 
not  hold  us.  It  will  hold  our  good-will  and  good  wishes  and 
warmest  greetings ; and  these  I send  with  all  my  heart. 

Indeed  yours, 

Robert  Collyer, 
Minister  of  the  Church  of  the  Messiah . 


Shelbyville,  III.,  Dec.  11,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — I am  sincerely  thankful  for  the  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  commemoration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary 
of  King’s  Chapel.  I assure  you  that  but  for  the  long  journey  re- 
quired, and  pressing  engagements  at  home,  I should  try  to  accept 
the  invitation. 

I have  never  been  to  but  one  other  spot  on  earth  that  seemed 
more  hallowed  with  memories  of  the  past ; and  that  was  Plymouth 
Rock  and  the  Burial  Hill  of  the  Pilgrims. 

Those  early  morning  prayer-meetings  at  the  Anniversaries  of 
the  American  Unitarian  Association  last  summer,  and  the  im- 
pressive communion  service  in  King’s  Chapel,  seemed  to  me 
like  a real  communion  of  saints  on  earth  joined  with  those  in 
heaven.  It  was  a memorable  experience  to  me ; and  no  less 
was  the  Sunday  following,  when  I was  called  to  serve  in  that 
pulpit.  It  was  a rare  experience  filled  with  a strangely  sacred 
awe.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  to  one  who  was  born  and 
brought  up  in  southern  Illinois,  whose  mother  was  born  in  a 
fort  in  this  (then)  territory  over  seventy  years  ago,  when  the 
wild  Indians  were  thick,  — one  whose  ancestors  came  from  the 
Carolinas  and  Tennessee,  and  one  who,  for  good  reasons,  had 
come  to  revere  the  Tri-Mountain  city  as  a sort  of  Mecca  and 
shrine  of  sacred  memories  ! Worshipping  in  that  house,  I thought 
of  the  venerated  dust  near  by,  and  of  the  long  line  of  devoted  men 
and  women  who  had  spoken  and  prayed  in  that  house,  and  whose 
bodies  at  last  had  been  tenderly  carried  from  thence  to  their  last 
resting  place. 

When  I was  a lad,  about  the  only  book  I ever  read  besides  the 
Book  was  the  “ Life  of  Dr.  Franklin  ” written  by  himself,  and  I 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


157 


naturally  came  to  regard  him  then  as  the  greatest  man  on  earth ; 
and  to  this  day  a feeling  of  reverence  comes  over  me  when  I go 
near  the  early  haunts  of  that  very  wise  man,  and  pass  beside  the 
graves  of  his  parents,  near  King’s  Chapel.  In  still  later  years  of 
my  life,  the  words  spoken  in  the  United  States  Congress  that  first 
thrilled  me  were  the  words  of  Charles  Sumner;  and  though  I 
never  heard  nor  saw  him  in  the  flesh,  I was  among  those,  far  away, 
who  wept  in  sympathy  as  they  read  of  his  funeral  service  at  King’s 
Chapel. 

You  can  see  then,  how,  standing  in  that  dear  old  Chapel  filled 
with  the  memories  of  two  hundred  years,  I was  almost  over- 
whelmed with  a sense  of  the  presence  of  those  not  seen.  It  was 
to  me  a fuller  audience  room  than  any  in  which  I had  ever  spoken. 
There  were  no  empty  seats  and  no  empty  space  ; even  the  darkest 
recesses  were  crowded.  It  was  as  if  one  were  walking  in  a beauti- 
ful garden  just  before  the  dawn,  hearing  seraphic  music  from  “ the 
choir  invisible,”  and  scenting  the  fragrance  of  rare  flowers  that 
could  not  be  seen. 

Blessings  upon  the  heads  of  those,  — the  children  of  the  genera- 
tions past,  — who  gather  within  those  walls  next  Wednesday  ! 

Again  thanking  you  for  the  kind  invitation,  and  with  regret  that 
I cannot  be  present,  believe  me,  in  Christian  fellowship, 

Yours  truly, 

J.  L.  Douthit. 


1426  Pine  Street,  Philadelphia,  Dec.  13,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — It  is  with  great  regret  that  I have  to  deny  my- 
self the  pleasure  of  being  with  you  on  the  15  th  inst.  My  eighty- 
four  years  are  the  obstacles.  Old  age  may  be  hale,  as  mine  is,  but 
it  is  very  brittle. 

It  is  very  pleasant,  in  this  changed  world,  to  see  in  the  list  of 
your  Wardens  and  Committee  such  names  as  I looked  up  to  with 
reverence  in  my  youth. 

With  all  good  wishes,  respectfully, 

W.  H.  Furness. 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


158 


Dover,  Mass.,  Dec.  6,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — I thank  the  Committee  for  their  invitation  to  the 
commemoration  services  of  King’s  Chapel,  but  shall  probably 
not  be  in  the  city  on  that  Wednesday.  As  one  of  the  many  not 
there  who  owe  something  to  the  brave  deed  of  the  Chapel  folk 
one  century  ago,  let  me  send  thanks  and  congratulations  to  their 
children. 

Yours  truly, 

W.  C.  Gannett. 


The  Second  Church  in  Boston,  founded  in  1649, 
Pastor’s  Study,  Dec.  6,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir, — With  much  pleasure  I accept  the  invitation 
from  the  Committee  to  the  commemorative  exercises  of  King’s 
Chapel,  December  15. 

Allow  me  to  take  this  opportunity  to  express  my  cordial  fellow- 
ship, and  that  of  my  church,  to  the  King’s  Chapel  Society  and  its 
pastor.  The  Second  Church  rejoices  in  the  noble  history  of  its 
sister  church,  and  congratulates  pastor  and  people  on  the  present 
vigor  and  prosperity  now  existing  in  it.  Both  churches  have 
travelled  a long  way.  Our  wish  for  you  is  the  same  we  express  for 
ourselves,  — the  age  of  experience  and  priceless  associations,  with 
renewal  of  youth  and  progress. 

I am  sincerely  yours, 

Edward  A.  Horton. 


176  Euclid  Avenue,  Cleveland,  Dec.  6,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — I write  to  thank  you  for  the  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  King’s  Chapel  commemoration  on  the  15th  inst., 
and  to  say  that  I am  really  sorry  to  be  prevented  by  the  distance 
in  space  between  Boston  and  Cleveland  from  accepting  the  same. 
King’s  Chapel  has  borne  a very  memorable  and  interesting  part 
in  the  story  of  the  Unitarian  movement  in  this  country,  and  I 
would  like  much  to  be  of  the  company  that  will  gather  to  com- 
memorate its  service  and  its  long  history.  Allow  me  to  send 


I 


THOMAS  HUTCHINSON. 

(Governor  1771-1774.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


159 


the  sincere  congratulations  which  I may  not  bring,  and  to  wish 
for  all  who  may  be  present  a meeting  in  all  ways  worthy  the 
signal  occasion. 

Sincerely  yours, 

F.  L.  Hosmer. 


25  Berwick  Park,  Boston,  Dec.  8,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — In  reply  to  your  kind  invitation,  permit  me  to  state 
that  it  will  afford  me  much  pleasure  to  receive  a ticket  permitting 
me  to  witness  the  services  to  be  held  in  commemoration  of  the 
completion  of  the  two  hundred  years  of  King’s  Chapel. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Raphael  Lasker. 


Meadville,  Pa.,  Dec.  11,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — The  polite  card  received  from  the  Committee  of 
Invitations  is  most  welcome.  It  reminds  me  of  many  things  which 
it  is  good  to  remember,  both  public  and  private.  It  tells  of  the 
glorious  record  of  your  church  for  two  centuries.  It  has  justified 
its  royal  name  by  royal  services  to  Christ  and  humanity.  Liberal 
and  Reasonable,  it  has  stood  as  a bulwark  against  the  fanaticism 
of  free-thinking  unbelief.  It  has  demonstrated  the  value  of  the 
Book  of  Prayer,  not  only  as  cultivating  the  devotional  spirit,  but 
as  chastening  the  spirit  of  individualism  and  religious  freedom, 
Long  may  it  hold  to  its  sure  anchorage  in  the  faith  of  Christ ! 

I am  reminded  too  of  that  dear  kinsman  of  mine,  Dr.  Ephraim 
Peabody,  whose  sweet  and  hallowed  memory  is  fresh  and  fragrant 
as  ever,  and  knows  no  sere  and  yellow  leaf  either  in  your  church 
or  the  Unitarian  church  general. 

It  would  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  be  present  in  body,  as 
I shall  be  in  spirit,  with  my  friend  your  beloved  pastor  and  the 
company  of  the  elect  on  the  great  day  of  the  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  your  church ; but  my  duties  here  will  not  allow  of  my 
absence. 

Gratefully  and  respectfully  yours, 

A.  A.  Livermore. 


i6o 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


913  Pine  Street,  Philadelphia,  Dec.  7,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — I have  to  acknowledge  with  great  pleasure  the  re- 
ceipt of  an  invitation  to  attend  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  King’s  Chapel.  I have  much  doubt  whether  I can  en- 
joy the  peculiar  pleasure  it  would  be  to  me  to  attend.  I most  cer- 
tainly shall  come  on  if  next  week  it  should  appear  possible.  I 
should  hardly  feel  at  liberty,  there  being  thus  some  doubt,  to  ac- 
cept a ticket,  as  they  will  be  in  great  demand.  Yet  should  I tres- 
pass too  far  if  I should  say  that  in  case  of  my  not  coming  it  would 
give  me  great  satisfaction  to  transfer  the  ticket  to  a member  of  my 
family  (my  son)  who  is  in  Boston?  With  your  consent  I would 
very  gladly  avail  myself  of  this  alternative  privilege. 

The  Chapel  is  my  ancestral  church,  as  my  name  will  suggest 
to  you ; my  mother’s  as  well  as  my  father’s  family  having  been 
brought  up  there,  and  my  parents  having  been  married  there.  I 
feel  a great  desire,  if  I should  not  finally  be  able  to  come  on 
(which  I fear) , that  our  family  should  not  be  unrepresented.  Please 
excuse  this  long  note,  and  believe  me 

Very  truly  yours, 

Joseph  May. 


219  West  130TH  Street,  New  York,  Dec.  12,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Foote,  — I want  to  thank  you  for  the  courtesy  of 
your  remembrance  upon  the  occasion  of  the  interesting  commemo- 
ration services  at  King’s  Chapel.  At  least  I presume  it  is  through 
your  kindness  the  invitation  has  come  to  me,  for  I know  no  other 
who  would  remember  me  in  this  connection.  I sincerely  trust  that 
Wednesday  may  prove  to  be  all  you  could  wish,  and  that  the 
patriotic  and  religious  sentiments  stirred  by  the  thoughts  of  days 
“ lang  syne  ” may  be  a new  inspiration  to  duty  to  both  State  and 
religion. 

It  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  I was  represented  — in  my  reli- 
gious ancestry  — in  the  early  history  of  the  Chapel,  for  did  not 
Charles  Wesley  preach  there  during  his  visit  to  America? 

Yours  ever, 


F.  Mason  North. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


161 


ioo  Mount  Vernon  Street,  Boston,  Dec.  n,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Lowell,  — I am  sorry  that  a service  appointed 
at  my  church  for  Wednesday  afternoon  will  prevent  my  acceptance 
of  the  kind  invitation  of  King’s  Chapel  to  be  present  at  the  service 
in  commemoration  on  that  day. 

Allow  me  to  present  my  congratulations  on  the  two  hundredth 
birthday,  and  express  a wish  that  the  future  may  become  more 
full  than  the  past  of  the  fruits  of  the  good  work  for  which  King’s 
Chapel  has  been  distinguished. 

I am  yours  faithfully, 

Leighton  Parks. 


12  Louisburg  Square,  Boston,  Dec.  15,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Foote,  — In  connection  with  the  delightful  ser- 
vices at  King’s  Chapel  which  I have  attended  this  afternoon,  I am 
moved  to  write  you  of  a little  circumstance  which  brings  your 
church  into  a brief  but  pleasant  relationship  with  mine,  and  which 
may  be  new  to  you.  It  is  that  at  the  formation  of  our  society  in 
1818,  the  plate  used  in  the  Communion  service  was  obtained  from 
King’s  Chapel.  I quote  from  an  article  in  Vol.  XXXI.  of  the 
“ New  Jerusalem  Magazine,”  written  by  Henry  G.  Foster  : — 

“ The  Communion  was  administered  at  the  close  of  the  service,  in 
which,  it  was  said,  one  or  two  of  the  congregation  participated  who 
were  unknown  to  us.  The  plate  for  the  Communion  was  obtained 
from  King’s  Chapel  by  the  kindness  of  the  late  Col.  Joseph  May,  long 
a distinguished  member  of  that  society.” 

It  is  pleasant  to  me  to  be  able  to  mention  this  friendly  act, 
which  forms  a link,  even  though  it  be  a slight  one,  between  our 
two  churches. 

Fraternally  yours, 

James  Reed. 


Burlington,  Vt.,  Dec.  6,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Foote,  — I am  much  gratified  with  the  invitation 
to  King’s  Chapel  Commemoration,  but  am  obliged,  just  now,  to 
send  to  your  Committee  my  thanks,  and  regrets  that  I cannot 

21 


162 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


leave  home  for  even  that  great  pleasure  and  good.  You  know 
how  glad  it  would  make  me  to  partake  your  joy.  But  this  must 
fall  under  Goethe’s  and  a diviner  rule,  — “Thou  must  renounce.” 
But  count  me  among  the  reverencers  of  the  Chapel  and  its 
honorable  years,  — among  your  friends  too ; also  will  rejoice  with 
it  and  you  in  this  happy  Festival.  May  all  go  well ! But  it  is 
superfluous  to  say  so.  The  time  itself  and  the  occasion  will  com- 
mand their  own  right  success. 

Heartily  I wish  I might  be  with  you,  in  person  as  in  spirit. 

Faithfully, 

L.  G.  Ware. 


Cincinnati,  Dec.  9,  1886. 

My  dear  Sir,  — I am  sorry  that  distance  will  keep  me  from 
joining  in  your  commemoration  of  King’s  Chapel’s  two  hundredth 
birthday,  but  I can  heartily  join  in  the  spirit  with  the  goodly 
number  of  people  who,  whether  assembled  with  you  or  absent, 
will  rejoice  in  the  noble  history  of  the  Church,  and  in  the  promise 
of  its  long  continued  usefulness  as  a centre  of  religious  life  and 
theological  progress. 

Thanking  you  for  the  card  of  invitation,  I am 
Very  truly  yours, 

George  A.  Thayer. 


71  Chester  Square,  Boston,  Dec.  6, 1886. 
Francis  C.  Lowell,  Esq.  : 

Dear  Sir,  — Accept  my  grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  card 
of  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  commemorative  services  at  the 
King’s  Chapel  on  the  completion  of  two  hundred  years. 

Nothing  but  necessity  will  keep  me  away,  and  I trust  and  be- 
lieve that  it  may  be  my  good  fortune  to  be  with  you  on  that  most 
interesting  and  memorable  occasion. 

Dr.  Greenwood  and  Dr.  Peabody  I knew  well,  and  honored  and 
loved,  — gifted  and  saintly  men.  George  B.  Emerson,  John  A. 
Lowell,  and  how  many,  many  more  who  loved  that  ancient  and 
hallowed  sanctuary  — now  gone  — I was  privileged  to  number  as 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 63 

my  best  and  dearest  personal  friends.  Thus  that  place  must  ever 
be  to  me  as  the  “ Gate  of  Heaven.”  Long  may  God’s  divinest 
blessing  be  with  you  all ! 

With  highest  respect, 

Most  truly  yours, 

R.  C.  Waterston. 


243  East  Eighteenth  Street,  New  York,  Dec.  12,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Lowell,  — The  invitation  to  King’s  Chapel  was 
delayed  at  my  former  address,  to  which  it  was  directed ; so  please 
excuse  this  tardy  reply.  I am  very  sorry  I cannot  be  present  at 
the  commemoration.  It  will  certainly  be  a service  of  unusual 
interest.  I hope  some  one  will  explain  why  the  loyal  church - 
men  who  founded  the  chapel  should  have  called  it  that.  Why 
did  they  not  call  it  a church , — St.  Charles’s  or  St.  Botolph’s, 
for  example?  Was  it  that  the  foundation  was  rather  political 
than  ecclesiastical?  Some  of  those  good  founders  seem  not  to 
have  been  noted  for  saintliness.  No  doubt  they  were  all  fine 
gentlemen,  and  wore  long  hair  and  lace  ruffles.  But  I don’t 
believe  the  Chapel  was  ever  so  Christian  an  institution  as  it  has 
been  for  the  last  hundred  years,  and  is  now.  They  builded  better 
than  they  knew. 

Yours  sincerely, 

T.  C.  Williams. 


Boston,  Dec.  7,  1886. 

Dear  Sir,  — It  will  give  me  pleasure  to  attend  the  services  in 
commemoration  of  the  two  hundred  years  during  which  King’s 
Chapel  has  shed  light  upon  men. 

With  cordial  thanks  for  the  invitation, 

I am,  respectfully, 

Wm.  Burnet  Wright. 


Concord,  Mass.,  Dec.  16,  1886. 

My  dear  Mr.  Foote,  — I want  to  congratulate  you  and  your 
beloved  church  on  the  great  success  of  your  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary celebration  yesterday.  It  was,  indeed,  a memorable  occa- 


164 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


sion,  and  one  that  must  have  made  you  and  your  good  people  feel 
that  you  were  richly  repaid  for  all  the  labor  and  care  which  it  cost 
you.  The  services  at  the  very  outset  were  pitched  to  a high  key, 
nor  lost  for  a single  moment  on  to  the  end  their  wonderful  inter- 
est, earnestness,  dignity,  and  Christian  spirit  and  power.  What 
other  American  church  could  gather  about  itself  such  a wealth  of 
historic  associations,  or  bear  a better  or  more  beautiful  testimony 
to  a continued  fidelity  to  the  truth  that  is  in  Jesus  and  the  faith 
that  is  unto  salvation  ? The  Unitarianism  for  which  King’s  Chapel 
has  so  long  and  so  consistently  stood,  which  found  such  noble  and 
eloquent  expression  in  the  many  varied  yet  accordant  voices  of 
yesterday,  and  what  called  forth  the  well-merited  and  magnificent 
tribute  that  was  paid  by  the  famous  and  honored  rector  of  Trinity, 
— is  there  any  form  of  religion  which  is  at  once  more  reasonable, 
Scriptural,  comforting,  and  inspiring  than  that?  Thank  God  for 
it,  and  for  the  church  that  with  its  successive  ministers  has  been 
so  loyal  to  it,  and  has  so  signally  and  finely  exemplified  and  illus- 
trated its  grace  and  truth  ! 

What  has  thus  recently  been  said  and  done,  in  connection  with 
your  bi-centennial  commemoration,  will  have  a powerful  effect  to 
make  many  souls  more  believing  and  devout,  and  to  confirm  them 
in  their  allegiance  and  love  to  the  common  Master. 

And  so,  dear  brother,  I give  you  joy,  and  am  most  glad  that 
your  lot  is  cast  in  such  pleasant  places,  and  that  you  are  so  worthily 
perpetuating  the  sacred  tradition  and  Christian  usefulness  of  the 
church  of  your  affections ; and  with  warmest  regards  and  all  best 
wishes  for  you  and  yours,  I am,  as  you  know, 

Ever  fraternally  and  faithfully  yours, 


A.  P.  Putnam. 


CLOSING  SERMON 

BY 

Rev.  HENRY  WILDER  FOOTE, 

PREACHED  IN 

Cljapd,  Boston, 


Dec.  19,  1886. 


SERMON. 


Our  holy  and  our  beautiful  house,  where  our  fathers 

PRAISED  THEE.  — Psalms  LXIV.  II. 

That  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a glorious  church,  not 
having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing  ; BUT  that  it 
should  be  holy  and  without  blemish.  — Ephesians  v.  27. 


HE  pictures  of  the  outer  and  of  the  inner  Tem- 


ple are  here  set  before  us,  — that  of  a sanctuary 
venerable,  beloved,  and  sacred  by  long  association 
and  holy  use ; and  that  of  the  spiritual  building  for 
the  sake  of  which  all  this  exists,  — to  build  up  a 
community  of  souls,  each  in  itself  and  all  together 
in  holiness  and  righteousness. 

These  are  the  blended  thoughts  which  seem  to 
belong  here  to-day,  when  we  stand  freshly  among 
the  memories  which  have  been  so  revived  for  us, 
and  ask  ourselves  what  is  the  great  impulse  which 
we  should  take  forward  into  this  new  century  of 
our  parish  life  for  our  inspiration.  For  there  are 
certain  things  very  definite,  very  positive,  and  very 
helpful,  which  come  to  us  to  make  us  feel  that  we 
stand  not  so  much  at  the  end  of  a great  history,  but 
at  the  beginning  of  a work  which  we  can  do  in 


i68 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


worthy  continuation  and  even  larger  increase  of 
that  which  has  been  so  rich  and  full  and  fruitful 
in  the  long  past. 

We  must  feel  indeed  to-day,  as  never  before  we 
have  felt  it  as  a church,  how  living  the  past  is,  how 
wealthy  in  teaching  and  in  inspiration. 

It  is  largely  due  to  the  forward-reaching  and  eager 
temper  of  our  time  that  an  influential  school  of 
modern  thinkers  has  been  led  to  adopt,  as  one  of  the 
cardinal  principles  of  their  philosophy,  the  axiom 
that  it  is  of  little  value  to  study  the  records  of  the 
past  at  all.  The  world  starts  fresh  with  each  new 
generation,  it  is  said.  What  would  be  the  advan- 
tage in  a man’s  going  back  to  his  own  cradle  in 
order  to  learn  how  to  take  care  of  himself,  or  return- 
ing to  his  first  school  in  order  to  learn  how  to  man- 
age his  business  ? The  history  of  the  past  is  the 
record  of  quarrels  that  fought  themselves  out  and 
had  better  be  forgotten,  or  of  dreams  that  have  faded 
into  thin  air,  or  of  ideas,  crude  and  partial,  that  have 
been  outgrown  by  the  world’s  advance.  Study  real 
facts,  it  is  said,  — the  solid  things  that  are  always 
true,  and  once  found  out  will  remain  the  same  for- 
ever. Leave  the  childhood  of  the  world  to  take 
care  of  itself,  and  take  the  knowledge  which  is  round 
you  on  every  side. 

Now,  I am  far  from  disparaging  the  importance 
of  the  solid  facts  which  these  thinkers  exalt  to  ex- 
clusive worth.  By  all  means  let  the  measuring  rod 
and  the  balances  weigh  and  measure  the  whole  of 
the  visible  creation ; let  the  laws  which  bind  the 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 69 

universe  together  be  deciphered,  and  the  human 
mind  still  “go  sounding  on  its  dim  and  perilous 
way.”  But  still,  when  we  speak  of  solid  facts,  is 
anything  in  the  constitution  of  the  earth  or  of  the 
elements  of  the  sun  more  substantial  than  the  things 
which  men  have  lived  ? Shall  the  fossil  slab  on 
which  extinct  creatures  have  left  their  footprints,  or 
the  petrified  mud-beach  which  has  been  pelted  by 
drops  of  rain  in  some  remote  epoch,  be  more  sig- 
nificant to  us  than  the  monument  of  some  far-off 
achievement  of  human  courage  or  human  faith,  or 
than  some  immortal  page  which  glows  with  the 
narrative  by  a soul  of  genius  of  deeds  which  shed 
lustre  on  the  human  race  ? But,  it  is  said,  humanity 
is  progressive,  and  the  law  of  progress  bids  us  look 
forward  and  not  back.  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
mode  of  thought  (and  it  is  one  which  has  colored 
many  of  our  minds,  even  though  we  do  not  sympa- 
thize with  the  general  drift  of  the  school  of  thinkers 
who  propound  it)  is  really  a confusion  of  thought 
arising  from  a mistaken  carrying  out  of  the  analogy 
of  progress.  Because  in  the  progress  of  a ship 
through  the  sea  the  waters  close  again  behind  it ; 
because  in  that  of  a man  through  the  street  the 
whole  of  him  goes  forward,  — it  is  imagined  that 
the  race  in  like  manner,  when  it  advances,  takes 
the  whole  of  itself  with  it.  Whereas  the  fact  really 
is,  that  human  progress  means  the  addition  of  re- 
sources, knowledges,  and  faiths  to  the  accumulated 
store  which  it  already  possesses,  and  not  the  per- 
petual substitution  of  new  for  old.  That  people 


170  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

is  the  richest  people  which  adds  its  present  gains 
to  the  largest  fund,  so  to  speak,  of  heroic  memories 
and  wise  experiences  and  deeply  impressed  lessons 
from  older  time. 

But  we  need  only  appeal  to  our  own  experience. 
We  find  every  day  that  we  do  not  cut  our  lives  in 
twain,  and  put  out  of  sight  and  out  of  thought  all 
our  own  past.  We  live  on  its  accumulated  capital 
of  principles  of  action,  rules  of  conduct,  moral  con- 
victions, religious  assurances,  which  have  accrued  to 
us  bit  by  bit  out  of  the  slow  years  ever  since  we 
began  to  think  at  all.  We  look  back  in  order  to  go 
forward,  — just  as  it  is  the  backward-stretching  foot 
which  gives  the  impulse,  as  we  walk,  which  sends 
us  on.  Is  it  less  so  in  the  advance  of  humanity? 
Can  we  hold  for  a moment  that  the  present,  so  long 
as  it  is  present , is  to  be  all-absorbing,  and  the  mo- 
ment it  is  past  is  to  be  utterly  worthless ; that  it  is 
valuable  to  us  while  it  is  filled  with  dust  and  turmoil 
and  pettiness,  but  good  for  nothing  when  the  cloud 
which  darkened  it  while  shaken  sinks  to  the  bottom 
and  leaves  its  eternal  truths  clear? 

Indeed,  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  us  to  reason 
with  ourselves  on  this  point ; for  all  our  reason- 
ings will  not  weigh  so  much  with  us  as  those 
spontaneous  instincts  which  rise  up  on  special  oc- 
casions and  recall  us  to  a sense  which  after  all  is 
deeper  than  our  theories,  — that  the  treasure  of 
great  public  memories  is  a mighty  heritage,  in 
which  history  is  full  of  the  most  present  influence 
over  our  lives. 


PETER  FANEUIL. 


(1700-1743.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 7 1 

And  we  see  at  once  why  such  a past,  as  has  just 
been  held  up  before  us  in  the  illuminating  testimony 
of  many  witnesses,  should  be  one  of  God’s  most 
potent  ministers  of  teaching  for  us.  It  has  one 
precious  use  which  the  present  cannot  have,  from 
the  very  fact  that  it  is  more  remote  from  us.  We 
cannot  always  look  dispassionately,  if  we  would,  at 
the  great  questions  which  are  bound  up  with  the 
application  of  religion  to  our  own  case.  The  very 
strength  of  our  need  of  these  helps  and  powers 
affects  us  too  deeply  to  let  us  always  feel  sure  that 
we  can  trust  even  the  spiritual  instincts  which 
mightily  affirm  the  truth  of  what  the  Christian 
Church  offers  in  its  Master’s  name.  But  when 
we  study  the  working  out  of  this  religion  by  men 
remote  enough  from  us  to  be  unobscured  by  the 
mists  of  our  own  mental  and  spiritual  atmosphere, 
we  are  taught  to  believe  in  its  enduring  and  su- 
preme value.  You  have  seen  how  wonderfully 
mere  distance  and  elevation  map  out  for  a trav- 
eller the  way  by  which  he  has  journeyed.  He  goes 
on  by  a dusty  road,  seeing  only  a little  way  before 
or  behind,  but  climbing,  climbing,  as  the  way  winds, 
till  at  last  he  stands  on  the  highest  ridge  of  the 
line  of  hills  that  has  enclosed  his  forward  vision ; 
from  that  fresh,  cool  height  he  looks  back  to  find 
the  whole  way  that  he  has  travelled  laid  out  before 
him.  What  was  blind  before  is  now  clear.  Not 
only  the  way  that  he  has  come,  but  the  whole  sur- 
rounding landscape  and  the  way  which  lies  before 
him  stand  forth. 


172 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


It  is  so  with  the  journey  which  our  parish  has 
been  taking  from  the  earliest  beginning  of  its  his- 
tory. In  the  present,  we  can  hardly  see  much 
more  than  the  present ; but  when  we  look  back 
we  see  not  only  the  past,  we  really  see  the  pres- 
ent too,  — how  this  came  out  from  that,  and  what 
this  really  is.  It  has  well  been  said,  “ The  his- 
tory of  our  race  is  experience  without  the  draw- 
back of  passion.”  The  experience  of  these  two 
hundred  years  as  we  look  back  upon  it,  even  in  the 
partial  glimpses  which  are  all  that  the.  mysterious 
privacy  of  each  human  soul  with  its  God  allows  to 
us,  is  the  heaped  up  testimony  of  a multitude  of 
God’s  children  to  the  moral  order  and  spiritual 
truth  which  govern  the  world.  We  see  the  history 
acted  out  by  conspicuous  persons  in  a great  arena, 
and  we  are  tempted  to  linger  on  what  may  be  called 
the  drapery  and  costume  of  the  actors ; but  we  fail 
to  look  with  the  spiritual  sympathy  which  alone  can 
understand  the  real  motive  of  their  deepest  lives, 
until  we  touch  in  them  a human  nature  like  our 
own,  working  out  the  great  problems  of  destiny  and 
duty  under  the  light  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  with  the  aid  of  his  Church.  In  some  we  behold 
clearly  manifest  how  religion  has  softened  and  mel- 
lowed the  rugged  nature,  in  others  the  springs  of 
gentler  and  nobler  spirits  are  visited  by  the  reviving 
grace  of  God ; but  I do  not  see  how  any  one  can 
consider  the  fact  which  the  living  on  of  a church 
through  seven  generations  indicates,  without  being 
profoundly  impressed  by  its  accumulated  witness  to 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 73 

the  reality  of  the  help  and  blessing  for  which  the 
Church  stands. 

I try  to  picture  to  myself  those  successive  gener- 
ations of  worshippers  here  as  they  come  and  go,  while 
the  church  remains.  They  are  very  distinct  each 
from  each,  and  all  from  our  modern  world  in  which 
every  one  is  blended  in  an  indistinguishable  mass, 
and  the  monotony  of  dress  seems  to  indicate  a simi- 
lar monotony  of  color  and  expression  in  mind  and 
soul. 

First  pass  by  the  earliest  group  of  the  founders, 
on  whom  we  dwelt  in  former  discourses.  They  seem 
like  persons  who  have  stepped  out  from  Lely’s  or 
Kneller’s  canvases,  as  they  bring  here  not  the  dress 
only,  but  the  manner  and  carriage  of  the  Stuart 
court,  — the  armor  and  brilliant  attire,  the  step  and 
look  and  haughty  bearing  of  those  who  represent 
the  loyalty  to  kings  reigning  by  divine  right,  among 
a people  who  have  already  breathed  this  free  air  for 
two  generations.  Let  us  speak  their  names  once 
more  — those  of  Andros  and  his  lady,  of  Nicholson 
and  Nelson,  of  Randolph  and  the  worthy  rector 
Ratcliffe  — before  they  vanish  from  us  into  the 
remoter  past  as  we  enter  our  third  century. 

Those  of  the  next  generation  are  harder  to  distin- 
guish, yet  not  a few  names  survive  to  us  — Foxcroft 
and  Lyde,  Dyer  and  Newton,  Southack  and  Jekyll 
— of  those  who  are  somewhat  more  than  names,  as 
they  listen  during  the  long  ministry  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Myles,  and  of  the  King’s  lecturers,  Bridge  and  Har- 
ris. We  hear  the  noise  of  successive  controversies 


174 


KINGS  CHAPEL,  BOSTON. 


within  and  without  the  church.  It  is  a time  of 
quarrel  in  Church  and  State.  The  days  of  good 
Queen  Anne  and  of  the  First  George  pass  before 
us,  and  the  rougher  as  well  as  the  gentler  touches 
depicted  in  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley. 

Another  generation  presses  on  the  former.  They 
come  from  stately  homes  set  deep  in  gardens  on 
streets  at  the  North  End  of  the  town,  or  from  Cam- 
bridge and  Medford  mansions,  enriched  from  West 
India  plantations  and  waited  on  by  black  slaves,  — 
the  Vassalls  and  Royalls,  Mascarenes  and  Brinleys, 
Gibbins  and  Read,  Auchmuty  and  Faneuil ; Sir 
Harry  Frankland,  the  gay  young  Collector  of  the 
Port ; and  Rector  Price,  commissioned  by  Bishop 
Gibson  as  his  commissary  for  New  England,  drawn 
by  the  attractions  of  his  country  home  and  mis- 
sion at  Hopkinton  more  and  more  away  from  the 
town. 

So  it  is  that  we  come  at  last  to  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  this  new  church  in  1 749.  Governor 
Shirley,  waited  on  by  Mr.  Caner  in  his  prime,  and 
the  wardens  and  vestry  stand  round  the  slab  in- 
scribed “ Quod  felix  faustumque  sit  Reipublicae,” 
then  go  into  the  old  church  still  enclosed  in  the 
trench  for  the  new  foundations,  and  hear  the  sermon 
on  “ The  Piety  of  Erecting  Churches  to  the  Honour 
of  God.”  Let  those  second  founders  of  the  church, 
to  whom  we  owe  this  sanctuary  which  has  been  a 
home  to  so  many  for  more  than  one  hundred  and 
thirty  years,  pass  before  us  a moment,  — the  Gov- 
ernor, nobly  urging  forward  the  design  of  building 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 75 

when  all  others  were  discouraged,  saying  that  it  was 
“not  for  themselves,  but  posterity,”  and  encouraging 
others  by  a lavish  subscription ; Charles  Apthorp, 
“ the  greatest  merchant  on  this  continent,”  whose 
descendants  still  worship  among  us,  treasurer  and 
chief  mover  in  the  building;  Barlow  Trecothick, 
later  Lord  Mayor  of  London  ; Dr.  Sylvester  Gardi- 
ner, lord  of  a great  domain  to  the  eastward ; Cra- 
dock  and  Hawding  and  Paxton. 

Yet  another  group  now  hurries  by,  in  which  some 
of  those  whom  I have  just  named,  now  growing  old, 
are  the  leaders,  — Deblois  and  Erving,  Price  and 
Hutchinson,  Chardon  and  Johonnot,  Vincent  and 
Brimmer.  The  church  suffers  with  the  darkening 
times.  It  is  built,  but  not  yet  fully  paid  for,  and 
the  grass-grown  streets  of  the  turbulent  town  yield 
little  revenue  to  its  members.  Still  they  pray  loyally 
for  King  George,  “that  he  may  have  the  victory  over 
all  his  enemies,”  till  that  March  Sunday  comes  which 
sees  them  kneeling  here  for  the  last  time.  The  old 
rector  gives  the  benediction,  and  they  go  out  of 
these  doors  like  Adam  and  Eve  from  Paradise,  with 
backward,  tearful  look,  that  would  be  sadder  yet  if 
they  fully  knew  how  the  angel  with  flaming  sword 
would  stand  at  the  portal  to  prevent  their  return. 

The  fifth  generation  now  appears  within  these 
pews,  around  the  youthful  reader  Freeman,  as  he 
urges  the  changes  in  the  liturgy,  and  once  more  the 
sound  of  discussion  is  heard,  — Dr.  Bulfinch  and  the 
younger  Gardiner,  Joseph  May  and  Ebenezer  Oliver, 
Minot  and  Amory,  Templeman  and  Coolidge  among 


1 76  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

those  who  favor,  I vers  and  Dehon  and  Haskins 
among  those  who  oppose,  alteration. 

And  now  we  are  in  this  present  century,  begin- 
ning with  such  men  as  I have  just  named, — among 
them  all  Joseph  May,  perhaps  the  most  serviceable 
to  the  church  during  more  than  fifty  years’  connec- 
tion with  it,  — and  ending  with  the  goodly  company 
of  those  of  whom  some  names  were  mentioned  here 
on  Wednesday  with  fit  honor,  as  types  of  many 
more  like  them. 

It  is  far  easier  to  trace  the  outward  history  of 
this  church  during  most  of  its  two  hundred  years, 
especially  in  its  great  historical  and  picturesque 
aspects,  than  to  trace  its  inward  and  spiritual  his- 
tory. This  is  always  so,  indeed ; especially  where, 
as  in  our  case,  the  martial  music  of  England,  the 
triumphs  of  great  deeds  of  war,  the  thunders  of  the 
Revolution  are  almost  constantly  in  our  ears  during 
the  first  half  of  this  long  time ; and  during  both  the 
earlier  and  the  later  days  the  long  roll  of  worship- 
pers here  is  constantly  lighted  up  by  the  names  of 
men  round  whom  the  history  of  their  time  revolved, 
or  who,  if  less  widely  known,  were  building  up  this 
community  in  its  best  undertakings  and  character. 
The  names  of  some  of  them,  from  the  long  succes- 
sion of  royal  governors  whose  escutcheons  hang 
here  again  to-day  as  they  did  a century  and  a half 
ago,  to  some  of  those  worthy  and  good  of  our  own 
day,  were  lately  spoken  again  in  your  hearing.  Of 
others,  a long  procession,  time  failed  us,  and  is  now 
wanting,  to  speak;  yet  it  is  well  to  remind  ourselves 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  I 77 

that  in  all  this  long  period  few  persons  of  note  have 
visited  Boston  who  have  not  entered  here.  I like 
to  think  that  Washington  was  in  this  church  once 
and  a^ain, — when  he  came  a survivor  of  Brad- 
dock’s  rout,  to  tell  Governor  Shirley  of  his  son’s 
death  in  that  disaster,  and  sat,  a young  man  in  his 
Virginia  colonel’s  uniform,  in  the  Governor’s  pew ; 
and  again  as  first  President  of  the  United  States, — 
while  these  walls  are  the  only  building  remaining 
unchanged  in  Boston  which  saw  the  entry  of  his 
besieging  army  midway  between  those  two  points 
of  time.  It  is  pleasant  to  hear  it  recalled  in  what 
pew  the  mighty  brow  of  Daniel  Webster  used  to  be 
seen,  when  from  time  to  time  he  appeared  in  this 
company  of  worshippers ; and  that  the  elder  and 
the  younger  President  Adams  are  remembered  here, 
as  well  as  their  illustrious  descendant  who  has  so 
recently  passed  to  their  companionship. 

But  let  us  not  be  dazzled  by  the  old  splendors  of 
courtly  pageants  and  great  public  events  and  high 
personages,  which  echo  or  are  seen  here  the  mo- 
ment we  stop  long  enough  to  listen  to  the  voice  of 
the  great  past,  — so  as  to  forget  that  all  the  time 
a real  spiritual  history  has  been  evolving  itself  in 
many  souls  through  seven  generations.  It  has  well 
been  said : “ But  while  we  recall  from  the  past 
the  outward  history  of  this  church,  we  cannot 
help  remembering  that  within  it  all  there  ran  a 
deep  spiritual  history  that  developed  into  richer  and 
more  enduring  forms  than  architectural  products. 

What  chapters  of  religious  biography  were  frescoed 

23 


1 78 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


upon  the  walls  of  those  old  churches,  not  visible  to 
human  eyes,  but  seen  by  God  and  the  ministering 
angels!  How  many  understandings  were  divinely 
taught,  and  stricken  hearts  healed,  and  longing 
souls  filled,  and  wavering  wills  confirmed  for  God! 
. . . It  must  have  been  so.  God  would  not  let 
his  Gospel  live  an  unfertile  life  so  long.  The  cov- 
enanted presence  went  with  the  holy  things  of  the 
temple,  and  Christ  was  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples 
according  to  his  word.” 

We  are  not  left  to  imagination  in  trying  to 
represent  to  ourselves  what  was  the  spiritual  food 
on  which  those  earlier  generations  were  fed  here. 
They  belonged  to  the  Church  of  England  in  its 
eighteenth-century  form,  and  shared  its  thoughts, 
and  doubtless  were  shut  in  by  its  limitations.  The 
library  which  King  William  III.  gave  to  the  King’s 
Chapel,  and  which  is  preserved,  shows  what  books 
our  earlier  ministers  read  and  doubtless  distilled 
into  many  a sermon.  The  divine  rights  of  rulers 
and  the  apostolic  claims  of  the  Church  must  have 
made  a part  of  the  teaching  of  the  church  which 
stood  here  confronted  with  the  children  of  Puritan- 
ism. The  doctrines  of  Orthodoxy  were  taught,  but 
in  a somewhat  gentler  form  than  that  proclaimed 
in  their  churches.  The  imagination  of  Jeremy 
Taylor  must  have  lighted  up  some  of  the  ser- 
mons preached  here ; but  they  were  probably  built 
for  the  most  part  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Tillot- 
son,  Beveridge,  Sherlock,  and  Butler,  — the  clear, 
calm,  cool  method  of  converting  by  argument  from 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 79 

the  evidences  of  Christianity,  and  appealing  to  a 
utilitarian  philosophy  to  make  men  good  for  their 
best  advantage  in  both  worlds.  Such  is  the  ground- 
work of  those  few  discourses  by  our  earlier  min- 
isters, — Myles,  Harward,  Price,  and  Caner,  — which 
have  survived  to  us.  Meantime,  however,  we  know 
that  mightier  voices  were  heard  here  or  in  the 
wooden  church,  chief  among  them  that  of  Charles 
Wesley,  — the  father,  in  a better  sense  than  even 
his  brother  John,  of  that  great  spiritual  renewal  of 
English  life  which  we  call  Methodism.  Here,  too, 
Bishop  Berkeley  preached,  — the  author  of  a system 
of  pure  idealism  in  philosophy  as  against  the  com- 
mon-sense philosophy  of  the  school  of  Locke.  And 
George  Whitefield,  the  mightiest  preacher  whose 
tones  ever  shook  the  sinner’s  soul,  here  sat  a silent 
worshipper  only,  and  had  to  seek  his  audiences  in 
Dissenting  meeting-houses  or  on  the  Common. 

The  type  of  religious  character  which  the  churches 
of  that  century  educated  was  marked  with  the  de- 
fects as  well  as  the  strengths  of  the  time.  It  did 
not  believe  in  fervors.  “ Enthusiasm  ” was  its  spe- 
cial dread.  Yet  side  by  side  with  its  quiet  training 
of  the  sober  virtues  of  character  and  of  religious 
habits,  we  can  trace  in  the  letters  and  diaries  of 
men  and  women  who  worshipped  here  in  those  old 
days  a devout  dependence  upon  God  and  sense  of 
communion  with  him,  which  show  how  genuine  and 
vital  was  the  living  faith  which  was  nourished  here 
by  the  prayers  and  the  altar  which  were  the  heart 
of  the  church. 


180  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

With  the  later  period  we  come  into  a time  which 
is  known  to  us  more  directly,  either  by  memory  of 
more  recent  years  or  by  tradition.  Still,  the  general 
habit  of  this  parish  remained.  The  changes  in  its  lit- 
urgy did  not  violently  sunder  it,  in  its  own  feeling, 
from  the  past,  however  they  might  seem  to  others. 
What  they  did  was  to  relieve  the  consciences  of 
the  worshippers  by  omitting  that  which  seemed  to 
them  not  Scriptural,  and  bringing  the  worship  into 
accord  with  the  language  of  the  Bible,  which  to  all 
Christians  is  the  most  hallowed  of  books.  Nor  did 
the  character  of  the  preaching  change  as  much  as 
might  be  supposed.  Dr.  Freeman’s  mind  was  also 
shaped  by  the  eighteenth-century  divines.  His  phi- 
losophy was  that  of  Priestley.  On  disputed  doctrine 
he  hardly  ever  preached,  after  the  few  sermons  a 
hundred  years  ago  which  led  his  people  to  modify 
the  prayer-book.  His  sermons  were  practical,  un- 
emotional, devoted  to  edifying  his  people  in  prac- 
tical goodness  and  charity.  A warmer  glow  of 
feeling  and  a deeper  spiritual  insight  enriched  this 
pulpit  under  his  successors,  to  whom  you  heard 
such  testimonials  at  our  service  of  commemoration. 
But  throughout,  as  I read  the  history  of  this  parish, 
its  solid,  sober,  genuine  religious  qualities  remained 
the  same.  We  know  what  the  character,  not  moral 
only  but  religious,  has  been,  the  sturdy  strength  and 
pillared  rectitude,  which  has  made  men  sure  what 
they  could  find  here,  and  made  this  church  stand 
for  something  like  its  own  house  of  worship  in  this 
community,  — as  King’s  Chapel  itself  stands  in 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


181 


these  streets  with  firm,  solid,  rocky  walls,  but  within, 
perhaps  unknown  by  the  multitudes  who  pass  and 
repass,  a very  shrine  of  faith.  We  know,  too,  many 
of  us,  the  hidden  things  of  religious  experience  in 
which  souls  have  found  here,  and  still  find,  that 
God  is  not  far  from  them,  and  the  call  of  Christ 
rouses  all  within  them  to  “rise  up  and  follow.” 

The  immense  changes  which  have  altered  all  the 
habits  of  life  more  in  the  last  fifty  years  than  in  the 
previous  five  hundred  introduce  new  and  difficult 
problems  in  regard  to  the  Church,  and  especially, 
perhaps,  in  regard  to  such  a church  as  this.  No 
thoughtful  person  can  avoid  seeing  or  can  help  re- 
gretting the  loosening  of  the  bonds  of  religious  habit 
in  great  communities  like  our  city.  The  causes 
for  it  are  many,  — some  of  them  are  bad,  some  not 
wholly  so,  or  are  at  any  rate,  in  the  particular  case 
of  the  men  and  women  who  have  dropped  the 
church-going  habit  out  of  their  lives,  the  natural 
result  of  a whole  network  of  conditions  in  which 
they  are  bound.  It  by  no  means  follows,  indeed, 
that  because  they  can  hardly  help  it  they  are  not 
hurt  by  it.  Nor  because  the  American  Sunday 
is  not  yet  shaped  into  its  final  form,  does  it  by 
any  means  follow  that  it  will  end  by  being  no 
Sunday  at  all,  or  that  the  Church  and  the  great 
institution  of  public  worship  are  going  to  fade 
away  under  our  Western  sky.  Still,  the  case  is 
very  different  with  any  particular  church  in  the 
loosely  knit  multitude  of  heterogeneous  and  often 


1 82 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


indifferent  persons  that  make  up  the  mass  of  a 
large  city,  from  what  it  was  in  the  compact  town 
of  our  fathers,  where  everybody  went  to  church, 
talked  about  it,  and  often,  it  must  be  confessed, 
fought  about  it. 

Two  special  difficulties  confront  this  church,  the 
necessary  result  of  the  growth  of  Boston ; and  both 
have  come  in  our  own  time.  When  this  house  was 
built,  it  stood  near  the  westward  limit  of  population. 
The  great  hill  which  rose  with  its  beacon  just  be- 
yond, like  a wall  held  back  the  tide  upon  this  side ; 
and  the  church  sat  as  a queen  among  the  happy 
homes  of  its  people  that  nestled  in  the  crooked 
lanes  and  streets  of  the  old  town.  Probably  there 
was  hardly  a house  in  the  parish  so  far  away  as  not 
to  hear  the  deep  note  of  our  bell  calling  to  worship, 
in  the  profound  hush  and  Sunday  quiet  of  the  town. 
Only  those  dignitaries  who  came  in  state  in  their 
chariots  from  the  suburbs,  by  the  roundabout  way 
across  the  Neck,  or  crossing  the  Ferry  from  the 
northward,  were  beyond  its  reach.  But  now  for  a 
quarter  of  a century  the  sun  as  it  moves  toward 
its  setting  has  steadily  been  drawing  the  habita- 
tions of  this  people  after  it,  as  the  moon  draws  the 
tides;  and  while  other  churches  have  floated  with 
the  current,  this  is  anchored  fast  in  its  old  holding- 
ground.  True,  its  hold  upon  the  affections  and  loy- 
alty of  its  members  is  exceptionally  strong.  Our 
commemoration  must  have  made  us  all  feel  that, 
and  feel  why  it  is  so.  But  the  cable  is  continually 
lengthening  by  which  they  are  held  to  it. 


REV.  JAMES  FREEMAN. 

(Reader  1782;  Rector  1787-1836.) 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 83 

And  then  there  is  the  enormous  change  which 
has  come  over  all  the  fixed  family  life  of  the  old  time, 
in  consequence  of  the  altered  summer  habits  of  our 
community.  In  the  old  time,  the  only  home  was 
within  almost  a stone’s  throw  of  this  spot;  and  on 
all  the  fifty-two  Sundays  of  the  year  the  preacher 
knew  that  he  would  see  the  bulk  of  his  congre^a- 
tion  in  their  familiar  places.  But  now,  perhaps  you 
do  not  even  yourselves  quite  know  how  universally  it 
is  otherwise.  I believe  that  members  of  this  par- 
ish have  permanent  summer  homes  of  their  own  in 
at  least  sixty  different  New  England  towns  and 
villages,  besides  the  wider  migration  which  every 
season  brings.  For  several  months  of  every  year,  I 
can  count  on  my  fingers  all  the  families  who  remain 
at  home  in  the  city,  and  for  a still  longer  time  this 
church  has  vast  desert  spaces  intervening  between 
its  inhabited  spots.  Even  those  of  you  who  go 
only  to  a short  distance  have  church  relations  for 
a considerable  part  of  the  year  there  and  not  here, 
and  the  country  churches  rightly  depend  on  the 
help  which  thus  comes  within  their  doors. 

Thus  the  conditions  are  altered  in  two  respects: 
1.  As  regards  the  work  of  the  church  itself,  it  be- 
comes more  and  more  clear  that  during  that  portion 
of  the  year  it  should  set  its  face  steadily  to  do  what 
it  can  for  the  multitudes  that  never  cease  to  pass 
here  winter  and  summer.  When  its  proper  work  as 
a parish  family  church  shrinks  like  a brook  in  its 
channel  under  the  midsummer  sun,  it  has  still  a 
gospel  to  preach  and  a work  to  do,  and  those  who 


184 


king’s  chapel,  boston. 


are  absent  from  it  should  know  that  this  work  is  still 
being  done.  2.  As  regards  the  members  of  this 
parish,  I would  ask  you  to  feel  that  the  modern  free- 
doms and  enlargements  of  your  life  do  not  emanci- 
pate from  the  duty  of  standing  by  and  showing  your 
belief  in  your  church.  If  the  time  when  it  can  do 
its  full  work  and  show  itself  in  complete  life  and 
strength  is  shortened  to  six  or  seven  of  the  twelve 
months,  all  the  more  does  your  church  ask  you  not 
to  let  any  light  thing  stand  between  you  and  it,  when 
you  are  within  reach  of  it  If  we  have  to  compress 
our  life  into  a fraction  of  the  year,  all  the  more  let 
us  be  really  alive  in  that.  And  then  there  is  much 
in  keeping  faithful  the  loyal  habit  of  thinking  of 
your  church  when  you  are  absent  from  it.  We  can 
carry  it  with  us  to  a peculiar  degree.  This  Book 
of  Prayer  which  contains  so  much  of  its  worship 
and  its  character  is  ready  to  bring  the  atmosphere 
of  its  devotions  and  the  very  shadow  of  its  pillared 
arches  into  your  summer  Sundays,  and  to  keep  you 
in  accord  with  the  deep  thoughts  which  belong 
here.  I am  glad  to  testify  that  not  a few  do  so 
feed  the  springs  of  their  own  souls  while  absent 
from  this  old  home  of  their  faith,  — as  I have  seen 
in  the  far  West  the  waters  led  down  from  the  snowy 
heights  of  the  Wasatch  Mountains  to  irrigate  the 
thirsty  plains  below  fainting  under  the  hot  sun,  and 
flowing  freshly  through  dry  and  dusty  places,  to 
make  “ the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose ; ” and 
then  when  the  stream  of  life  flows  back  here  again 
it  fills  our  fountains  full  of  life  and  power. 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 85 

Moreover,  in  the  wide  changes  which  have  come 
over  the  churches  of  various  names,  a Christian 
church,  with  the  double  and  blended  inheritance 
which  is  peculiarly  ours,  has  a large  work  to  do,  if 
it  will  loyally  and  faithfully  set  itself  to  the  full  use 
of  its  opportunities.  It  occupies  a mediatorial  po- 
sition, so  to  speak,  in  relation  to  widely  divergent 
states  of  thought  and  feeling  in  this  age  of  fluent 
and  fermenting  opinions.  Few  of  us  have  an  ade- 
quate sense  of  the  modification  of  thought,  still  more 
of  the  enlargement  of  charity,  which  is  going  on 
in  what  are  called  the  Orthodox  bodies  around  us. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  in  the  Trinitarian 
Congregational  Church  of  New  England  to-day  re- 
gret the  spirit  and  policy  which  prevailed  in  that 
body  seventy  years  ago,  and  which  excluded  the 
Unitarian  Congregationalists  from  that  communion. 
In  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  a spirit  broad, 
noble,  and  generous  is  resolutely  striving  against  a 
more  narrow,  hard,  and  arrogant  temper.  The  great 
problem  which  American  Christendom  has  to  solve 
is  the  question  how  to  reconcile  a wise  conservatism 
with  a rational  spirit  of  progress.  Toward  that 
solution  it  seems  to  me  that  a church  can  do  some- 
thing— perhaps  much  — which  occupies  historically 
and  religiously  the  mediatorial  ground  where  this 
church  has  been  placed  by  the  providence  of  God. 
I am  fain  to  think  that  something  has  been  done  to 
bring  the  kingdom  of  God  nearer  by  the  welcome 
and  respectful  hearing  which  has  been  given  here 
in  recent  years  to  men  like  the  beloved  Diman,  too 

24 


1 86  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

early  taken  from  us,  and  to  others  of  the  same 
generous  Christian  sympathies  among  the  living. 
Whoever  represents  in  the  different  branches  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  the  spirit  of  light,  of  truth, 
of  faith,  which  alone  can  lift  American  Christendom 
out  of  mere  sectarianism  into  a higher  and  serener 
air,  ought  to  be  at  home  in  a church  which  seeks 
to  shape  its  worship  and  its  faith  according  to 
the  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ. 

In  this  transitional  time  the  peculiar  denomi- 
national freedom  of  King’s  Chapel  ought  to  be  very 
precious  to  us.  By  the  course  of  events  in  the  past, 
this  church  was  compelled  largely  to  stand  alone. 
It  has  never  since  so  entered  into  other  ecclesias- 
tical relations  as  to  subject  itself  to  the  vote  or 
authority  of  any  other  organization.  To-day,  in 
fraternal  good-will  to  all,  and  especially  to  those 
most  in  affinity  with  our  profound  conviction  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  larger  than  any  men’s  interpretations 
of  him,  it  will  sympathize  with  those  things  which 
make  for  the  cause  of  that  simple,  broad,  unsecta- 
rian yet  positive  Christianity  which  is  in  the  line  of 
its  traditions  and  its  worship  and  its  faith.  What- 
ever is  discordant  therewith  it  will  frankly  dissent 
from ; and  never,  so  long  as  it  is  faithful  to  its  reli- 
gious history  and  to  the  reverent  Scriptural  usages 
of  its  Christian  tradition,  can  it  give  aid  or  sympa- 
thy to  anything  which  is  not  supremely  loyal  to  its 
Master  and  Lord. 

The  question  of  methods  and  details  of  parish 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY. 


187 


work  hardly  belongs  in  this  larger  survey  which  we 
have  been  taking  of  our  whole  position  and  oppor- 
tunity. Yet  we  must  not  forget  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  those  who  love  their  church  to  be  ready  to  learn 
from  the  new  time  whatever  it  has  to  teach  in  these 
ways.  There  is  not  a little  in  the  modern  ma- 
chinery of  church  life  which  does  not  really  help 
the  true  life  of  any  church  ; and  there  are  things, 
too,  which  are  suited  for  one  church  but  not  for 
another.  But  it  would  be  strange  if  in  two  hundred 
years  nothing  had  been  discovered  of  universal  value 
in  religious  administration.  I believe  that  if  this 
parish  will  look  for  such  helps  and  use  them,  its 
later  centuries  may  be  its  best  as  well  as  its  most 
useful.  In  these  later  years  some  such  steps 
have  been  taken,  greatly,  as  we  all  agree,  for  the 
common  good  and  life.  Other  things  have  been 
proposed,  but  have  not  commanded  that  general 
agreement  which  is  vital  to  success ; yet  they  still 
appear  to  me,  in  looking  to  the  future,  to  be  wise 
and  necessary  for  the  adequate  enlargement  of  the 
parish  life  and  work. 

This  parish  has  had  the  gift  of  stability  to  an 
unusual  degree,  not  only  standing  on  the  same  spot 
for  seven  generations,  but  standing  solidly  in  the 
same  general  characteristic  qualities,  and  even  con- 
tinuing the  tradition  of  family  parish  life  through 
all.  We  still  have  with  us  descendants  of  a sub- 
scriber to  the  first  building,  two  hundred  years  ago, 
and  not  a few  representatives  of  those  who  built 
this  statelier  church,  and  many  who  are  here  in  the 


1 88  king's  chapel,  boston. 

third  and  fourth  generation.  Many,  too,  are  with 
us  who  have  come  in  these  later  days,  and  take 
their  honored  part  no  less  with  us.  It  is  in  this 
blending  of  the  old  with  the  new,  of  the  new  with 
the  old,  that  not  a little  of  our  strength  consists.  It 
is  for  the  children  of  this  generation  to  continue 
that  sense  of  belonging  here,  of  caring  for  their 
church  and  intending  to  serve  it,  if  it  is  to  go  on 
with  the  life  of  the  new  century  as  it  went  with  those 
before.  I would  plead  especially  with  the  men  of 
this  parish  to  remember  how  much  depends  on  their 
interest  and  care  and  faithfulness,  for  the  help  or 
the  hurt  of  the  best  life  of  their  church. 

As  we  look  back  on  the  long  story,  there  are  rea- 
sons why  we  may  well  recall  it,  not  as  an  antiqua- 
rian record,  nor  even  only  as  a great  chapter  of  his- 
tory, full  of  light  and  color,  to  take  pride  in.  It  is 
good  for  us  to  dwell  upon,  till  we  feel  ourselves  also 
a part  of  the  procession  of  the  generations ; for  it 
makes  on  us  a constant  impression  of  character,  of 
religion,  and  of  stability  in  the  best  things.  Those 
men  who  really  give  the  parish  its  life,  as  far  back  as 
we  can  see  them  through  the  mists  of  the  past  and 
down  to  those  who  made  it  a quarter  of  a century 
ago,  are  essentially  the  same  in  solid  worth,  in  self- 
reliant  sturdy  vigor,  compelling  in  each  age  the  re- 
spect if  not  always  winning  the  liking  of  the  world 
around,  — men  willing  to  contend  for  their  convic- 
tions and  (what  is  much  harder)  to  suffer  for  them. 
These  men  have  stood  for  something  substantial 


TWO  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY.  1 89 

and  sure,  and  their  church  has  so  stood,  all  the  way 
along. 

We  trace  the  thread  again,  from  the  old  loyalty 
and  the  old  history,  through  the  inspiring  witness 
of  this  church,  through  its  best  lives,  to  the  glory  of 
the  Christian  ministry  and  the  largeness  of  the 
Christian  work  of  a living  church,  — its  memories 
which  inspire  rather  than  sadden ; its  great  teach- 
ing of  worship  and  reverence ; its  conserving  of 
the  moral  and  spiritual  treasures  which  the  ages 
have  so  painfully  won  and  may  so  easily  misprize. 
But  the  Church  should  be  something  more  than 
a conserver ; it  should  also  be  an  inspirer.  These 
treasures  are  ours  to  keep,  not  by  hiding  in  a napkin, 
but  as  the  woman  in  the  parable  hid  the  leaven  in 
three  measures  of  meal  till  the  whole  was  leavened  ; 
or  as  the  children  of  Israel  had  the  sacred  ark  of 
the  covenant,  not  to  sit  down  beside  it  as  something 
too  holy  to  move,  but  that  it  might  march  before 
them  in  the  wilderness.  So  the  story  of  what  this 
church  has  done  would  not  be  complete  unless  yoii 
could  tell  not  only  that  it  had  guarded  well  the 
accumulated  sacredness  of  what  prophets  saw  and 
apostles  proclaimed,  of  what  the  slow  experience 
of  the  believing  generations  has  assured  to  us,  but 
that  here  constantly  new  souls  had  been  fired  with 
the  vision  of  God’s  truth,  lifted  above  their  weak- 
ness by  His  strength,  out  of  their  temptations  and 
darkness  into  His  light,  — the  Living  Witness  of 
the  Spirit  making  the  old  new  by  the  present  power 
of  the  Christ  of  God. 


1 90  king’s  chapel,  boston. 

And  now,  as  we  stand  at  the  beginning  of  this 
new  century  of  our  church  life,  may  it  be  with  new 
hope  and  fresh  courage  for  the  untried  way  that 
opens  before  us,  — resolved  that  we  will  look  for 
God  to  lead  us  to  larger  vision,  and  that  we  will 
rise  with  His  help  to  our  opportunity,  holding  fast 
to  all  that  He  has  given  us,  pressing  forward  ever 
to  “ that  which  is  before.” 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Aaron  and  Hur,  129. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  tribute  to, 
137- 

Adams,  President,  177. 

Addington,  Mr.,  27. 

Ainsworth,  Henry,  psalmody  of,  18. 

Allen,  Rev.  John,  46. 

American  process,  the,  23. 

Ames,  Lieut.-Gov.  Oliver,  73  ; letter 
from,  145. 

Amory,  John,  175. 

Andrew,  Gov.  John  A.,  brings  bodies 
of  Massachusetts  soldiers  to  King’s 
Chapel,  87. 

Andros,  Lady,  83,  173. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  description  of, 
24,  26,  42,  44,  45,  46,  63,  83,  91, 
173;  commission  of,  43;  arms  of, 
62;  portrait  of,  71 ; founder  of  the 
earliest  church,  100. 

Anne,  Queen,  63,  174. 

Antego,  40. 

Apthorp,  Charles,  85,  175. 

“ Arbella,”  the,  35. 

Atkinson,  Miss,  150. 

Auchmuty,  Robert,  174. 

Ball,  Thomas,  letter  from,  152. 

Bankes,  Richard,  64. 

Baptists,  the  early,  20. 

Barber,  Prof.  Henry  H.,  letter  from, 
154. 

Bartlett,  J.  C.,  66. 

Bartol,  Cyrus  A.,  D.D.,  letter  from, 
155- 

Bay  Psalm  Book,  The,  31. 

Beacon  Hill,  31. 

Belcher,  Gov.  Jonathan,  63;  arms  of, 
62 ; portrait  of,  70. 


Bellomont,  arms  of  the  Earl  of,  62. 
Berkeley,  George,  Bishop  of  Cloyne, 
179. 

Bernard,  Sir  Francis,  63. 

Berry,  J.  K.,  66. 

Beveridge,  William,  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph,  178. 

Bicknell,  Thomas  W.,  letter  from,  147. 
Bigelow,  Hon.  George  Tyler,  tribute 
to,  137. 

Bishop  of  London,  Randolph’s  letters 
to,  21,  24,  25. 

Blackburn,  Jonathan  B.,  artist,  84. 
Blake,  Mrs.  George  Baty,  74. 

Boott,  the  family  of,  151. 

Bossuet’s  varieties  of  Protestantism, 
20. 

Boston,  evacuation  of,  63,  65. 

Boys  and  negroes  in  the  early  con- 
gregation, 24. 

Braddock’s  rout,  177. 

Bremen,  the  Rathhaus  of,  35. 
Brewer,  Gardner,  135. 

Bridge,  Rev.  Christopher,  64,  85,  173. 
Brimmer,  Martin,  175. 

Brinley,  Francis,  letter  from,  152. 
Brinley,  the  family  of,  174. 

British  Army  and  Navy,  officers  of, 
84. 

Broad  Street,  the,  31. 

Brockwell,  Rev.  Charles,  64. 

Brooks,  Phillips,  D.D.,  60;  address 
of,  1 1 2. 

Buckminster,  Rev.  Joseph  Stevens, 
128. 

Bulfinch,  Rev.  Stephen  Greenleaf, 
IS*- 

Bulfinch,  Dr.  Thomas,  175. 

Bulfinch,  Thomas,  tribute  to,  136. 

25 


194 


INDEX. 


Bulfinch,  the  family  of,  129,  151. 

Bulfinch,  Madam,  gift  of,  65. 

Bullard,  Francis,  66. 

Bullivant,  Benjamin,  64. 

Bunker  Hill,  63,  86. 

Burnet,  Gov.  William,  63;  arms  of, 
62 ; portrait  of,  70. 

Burnett,  Deacon  John,  gift  of,  65. 

Butler,  Joseph,  Bishop  of  Durham, 
178. 

Byles,  Rev.  Mather,  131. 

Caner,  Henry,  D.D.,  64,  84,  95,  179; 
sermon  on  laying  corner-stone  of 
King’s  Chapel,  quoted,  88. 

Canterbury,  William  Sancroft,  Arch- 
bishop of,  38. 

Cary,  Nathaniel,  gift  of,  65. 

Cary,  Rev.  Samuel,  64,  74;  tribute 
to,  150. 

Catechising  of  children  in  King’s 
Chapel,  153. 

Chadwick,  Rev.  John  W.,  letter  from, 

I55- 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  D.D.,  128. 

Chardon,  Peter,  175. 

Charles  the  First,  King,  14,  19,  22 ; 
beheading  of,  48,  49. 

Charles  the  Second,  King,  19,  22,  25, 
49. 

Charles  River,  the,  37. 

Checkley  family,  arms  of  the,  62. 

Cheverus,  Jean  Louis  Anne  Made- 
leine Lefevre  de,  Bishop  of  Boston, 
I3I* 

Christ  Church,  Boston,  services  in, 
34,  85. 

Christ  Church  in  Philadelphia,  102. 

Church  and  State,  seventeenth-cen- 
tury idea  of,  47. 

Church  of  England,  feared  by  the 
Puritans,  21 ; first  meeting  of  mem- 
bers of,  38 ; first  administration  of 
the  prayers  and  ordinances  of,  63 ; 
worship  of  the,  first  had  by  author- 
ity, 82 ; parishes  in  Boston,  85. 

Clark,  one  Mr.,  40. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman,  D.D.  4,  61, 
127,  152;  address  of,  128;  poem 
by,  130. 


Clarke,  Rev.  Josiah,  64. 

Clarke,  Miss  Sarah  H.,  70. 

Collects  read  in  Commemoration 
Services,  77,  78. 

Collyer,  Rev.  Robert,  letter  from,  155. 

Commemorative  Services,  descrip- 
tion of,  69;  programme  of,  53-66. 

Committee,  report  of  plan  of  celebra- 
tion of  200th  Anniversary,  4. 

Common  Prayer,  first  public  admin- 
istration of,  28. 

Commonwealth,  portrait  loaned  by 
the,  62. 

Communion  plate  of  King’s  Chapel, 
65,  78,  85. 

Compton,  Henry,  Bishop  of  London, 
44. 

Congregational  Churches,  watch  and 
ward  of,  22. 

Consecration  service  for  a church, 
quoted,  80. 

Coolidge,  the  family  of,  151. 

Coolidge,  Mrs.  Catharine,  gift  of,  65. 

Coolidge,  John  G.,  66. 

Coolidge,  Joseph,  129,  175. 

Coolidge,  Joseph,  tribute  to,  137. 

Coolidge,  J.  Randolph,  jr.,  3,  6,  53, 64. 

Coolidge,  J.  Templeman,  3d,  6,  53; 
services  of,  72. 

Copley,  John  Singleton,  132. 

Cordner,  Rev.  John,  LL.D.,  61. 

Correspondence  on  the  occasion  of 
the  200th  Anniversary  of  King’s 
Chapel,  145-164. 

Cotton,  Rev.  John,  19,  31,  82,  97. 

Covenanters,  the  Scotch,  22. 

Coverley,  Sir  Roger  de,  174. 

Cradock,  George,  175. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  quoted,  15. 

Curtis,  Charles  Pelham,  64,  104,  136, 

Curtis,  Charles  P , jr.,  66. 

Curtis,  Greely  S.,  3,  6,  53,  64. 

Curtis,  the  family  of,  129. 

Dalton,  the  family  of,  151. 

Davenport,  Rev.  Addington,  64,  112. 

Deane,  Charles,  LL.D.,  letter  of  Dr. 
Howe  to,  31. 

Deblois,  Gilbert  and  Lewis,  175. 


INDEX, 


195 


Declaration,  the,  deposing  Andros, 
42. 

Decoration  of  King’s  Chapel  for 
200th  Anniversary,  69-72. 

Dehon,  Theodore,  175. 

Dennison,  General,  153. 

De  Tocqueville,  quoted,  94. 

Diman,  Prof.  J.  Lewis,  185. 

Douthit,  Rev.  Jasper  L.,  letter  from, 
156. 

Dudley,  Gov.  Joseph,  26,  27,  29,  39, 
40,  42,  63,  147  ; arms  of,  62;  por- 
trait of,  70,  81,  to8. 

Dudley,  Mrs.  Rebecca,  portrait  of, 
70. 

Dudley,  Thomas,  19. 

Dummer,  Lieut. -Governor,  portrait 
of,  70,  71. 

Dyer,  Col.  Giles,  173. 

Ecclesiastical  Commission,  the, 
of  King  James,  44. 

Eckley,  Rev.  Joseph,  ordination  of, 
101,  107. 

Edmands,  Miss  Gertrude,  66. 

Eliot,  President  Charles  William, 
LL.D.,  60,  73,  128;  address  of, 
109. 

Eliot,  Hon.  Samuel  Atkins,  tribute 
to,  136. 

Elliott,  Miss  Louise,  66. 

Ellis,  George  Edward,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
59 ; address  of,  96. 

Ellis,  Rufus,  D.D.,  baptism  of,  103 ; 
description  of  Early  Puritan  Wor- 
ship, quoted  from,  18. 

Emerson,  George  Barrell,  LL.D., 
tributes  to,  137,  162. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  quoted, 
92. 

Emigration,  the  Great.  35. 

Endicott,  Hon.  William  C.,  letter 
from,  141;. 

Endicott,  William,  3d,  66. 

Episcopal  Church,  a representative 
of,  5. 

Episcopalian,  the  modern,  21. 

Erving,  John,  175. 

Escutcheons  hung  in  the  church,  62, 
7i- 


Eustis,  Gen.  Abram,  153. 

Everett,  Hon.  Edward,  LL.D.,  128. 

Everett,  Dr.  William,  original  hymn 

by,  58,  95- 

Faneuil  Hall,  86. 

Faneuil,  Peter,  174;  portrait  of,  70, 
81. 

Farley,  Frederick  Augustus,  D.D.,  4, 

57,  73»  76;  letter  from,  148-152. 

Fenderson,  Mrs.  E.  C.,  66. 

First  Church,  it,  20,  74,  82,  95. 

First  Church  of  Salem,  36. 

Flags  used  in  the  decoration  of  the 
church,  62,  70,  71,  72. 

“ Formes  for  the  servise  of  the 
church,”  83. 

Foote,  Rev.  Henry  Wilder,  5,  6,  53, 

58,  64;  historical  sermons  by,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  completion  of 
200  years  since  the  foundation  of 
King’s  Chapel,  11-52;  prayer  by 
78;  address  of,  80;  closing  ser- 
mon by,  167-190. 

Foxcroft,  Francis,  173. 

Foxcroft  family,  arms  of  the,  62. 

Francisca  (Shirley),  monument  of 
the  fair,  132. 

Frankland,  Sir  Harry,  174. 

Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  156. 

Franklin,  Miss  Gertrude,  66. 

Freeman,  James,  D.D.,  64,  74,  102, 
127,  128,  129,  148,  153,  180;  por- 
trait of,  70,  71 ; preface  to  King’s 
Chapel  prayer-book,  quoted,  88; 
tribute  to,  148. 

Furness,  William  H.,  D.D.,  letter 
from,  157. 

Gage,  General  Thomas,  63. 

Gannett,  Rev.  William  C.,  letter 
from,  158. 

Gardiner,  John,  175. 

Gardiner,  Dr.  Sylvester,  175. 

Gardner,  John  L.,  gift  of,  65. 

Gedney,  Captain,  27,  29. 

General  Court,  the,  27  ; receive  the 
exemplification  of  the  Charter's 
condemnation,  27. 

George,  Captain,  26,  27. 


196 


INDEX. 


George  I.,  King,  174. 

George  II.,  King,  85;  gift  of,  65. 

George  III.,  King,  gift  of,  65. 

George,  prayer  for  King,  175. 

Gibbins,  Dr.  John,  174. 

Goddard,  Dr.  C.  W.,  66. 

“ God’s  acre,”  the  earliest,  35. 

Gordon,  Rev.  George  Angier,  59 ; 
address  of,  105. 

Gore,  Governor,  74;  family  of,  151. 

Gorton,  Samuel,  20. 

Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,  the,  4,  58,  73. 

Governor’s  pew  in  King’s  Chapel, 
128;  restored,  72. 

Great  Britain,  declaration  of  peace 
with,  128;  loyalty  to,  22. 

Green,  Samuel  S.,  letter  from,  152. 

Greenwood,  Francis  William  Pitt, 
D.D.,  64,  74,  87,  149,  151,  154,  162; 
tributes  to,  102,  129,  146,  162;  his- 
tory of  King’s  Chapel  by,  quoted, 
38,4i>  51* 

Grew,  Edward  S.,  6,  53. 

Guliger,  artist,  70. 

Hackney,  tune,  18. 

Hall,  Thomas  B.,  6,  53,  64. 

Hamilton,  Capt.  Francis,  arms  of, 
62,  71. 

Handel,  anthem  by,  sung,  6t  ; said 
to  have  touched  the  organ,  85. 

Harris,  Rev.  Henry,  64,  173. 

Harvard  University,  the  president 
of,  60;  250th  anniversary  of,  12; 
introduction  of  president  of,  108. 

Harward,  Rev.  Thomas,  64,  179. 

Haskins,  John,  175. 

Hatton,  Rev.  George,  64. 

Hawding,  Thomas,  175. 

Higginson,  George,  3,  6,  53,  64. 

Hinkley,  Governor  Thomas,  27. 

Hoar,  Hon.  George  Frisbie,  letter 
from,  146. 

Holley,  Rev.  Horace,  131. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  M.D., 
LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  5,  61,  73,  127,  130; 
hymn  by,  60;  introduction  of,  131 ; 
poem  by,  13 1. 

Homans,  Dr.  John,  2d,  66. 


Horton,  Rev.  Edward  A.,  letter  from, 
158. 

Hosmer,  Rev.  Frederic  L.,  letter 
from,  158. 

Howe,  Dr.  Estes,  letter  of,  31. 

Hull,  John,  mint-master,  31. 

Hunt,  Rev.  John,  106. 

Huntington,  Rt.  Rev.  Frederic  D., 
D.D.,  letter  from,  154. 

Hutchinson,  Eliakim,  175. 

Hutchinson,  Gov.  Thomas,  portrait 
of,  70,  81. 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Anne,  20. 

Ivers,  James,  175. 

Jackson,  Dr.  James,  103,  136. 

Jackson,  Patrick  T.,  3,  6,  53,  64. 

James  I.,  King,  14. 

James  II.,  King,  49,  54. 

Jekyll,  John,  173. 

Johonnot,  Andrew,  175. 

Josselyn,  John,  23,  36. 

Joyiiffe,  Mr.,  pew  of,  in  South  Meet- 
ing-house, 24. 

Keayne,  Capt.  Robert,  legacy  of,  37. 

Kehew,  Miss  Elene  Buffington,  66. 

“ Kingfisher,”  ship  of  war,  71. 

King’s  Chapel,  connection  of,  with 
the  English  state,  22  ; first  meet- 
ing for  organization  of,  63  ; first 
administration  of  Lord’s  Supper, 
63 ; occupancy  of  South  Meeting 
House,  63 ; first  built  of  wood,  63 : 
first  opened  for  service,  63 ; known 
as  Queen’s  Chapel,  63;  present 
church  erected,  63  ; governors  con- 
nected with,  63 ; first  service  after 
evacuation  of  Boston,  63 ; wor- 
shipped with  Trinity  Church  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  63  ; permitted 
Old  South  Church  to  occupy  it, 
63 ; the  earliest,  83  ; liturgy,  63,  86, 
102;  tributes  to,  151,  160;  com- 
munion service  in,  156;  library, 
178 ; denominational  freedom  of, 
186. 

King’s  lecturer,  the,  101. 

King’s  lecturers,  roll  of,  64. 


INDEX. 


Kneller,  Sir  Godfrey,  artist,  70,  175. 

Knowles,  Sir  Charles,  85. 

Lamb,  Horace  A.,  6,  53. 

Lamprell  and  Marble,  decorators,  72. 

Lasker,  Rev.  Raphael,  letter  from, 

1 59- 

Laud,  William,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 21. 

Lechford,  Thomas,  23. 

Lely,  Sir  Peter,  artist,  70,  173. 

“Lethargy,”  the  liturgy  so  described 
by  Randolph,  41,  97. 

Leverett,  Governor,  wharf  of,  43. 

Liopoldt,  F.,  artist,  70. 

Liturgy  of  King’s  Chapel,  altered,  63, 
180. 

Livermore,  Abiel  Abbot,  D.D.,  letter 
from,  159. 

London,  the  Bishop  of,  38,  43. 

Loring,  the  Misses,  portrait  belong- 
ing to,  62,  71. 

Louis  XIV.,  King,  81. 

Louisburg,  triumph  of,  81. 

Lowell,  A.  Lawrence,  6,  53,  64. 

Lowell,  Francis  C.,  6,  53. 

Lowell,  Francis  C.,  tribute  to,  137. 

Lowell,  John  Amory,  tributes  to,  136, 
162. 

Lyde,  Edward,  173. 

Lyman,  Arthur,  66. 

Lyman,  Arthur  T.,  3,  64. 

Lyman,  Herbert,  66. 

Martinique,  disaster  of,  81. 

Mascarene,  the  family  of,  174. 

Mason,  Mr.,  27,  29,  39. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  banners  of,  81. 

Massachusetts,  commercial  indepen- 
dence of,  22. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
portraits  loaned  by,  62,  70 ; presi- 
dent of,  59,  74 ; proceedings  re- 
ferred to,  31  ; rooms  of,  95. 

Mather,  Rev.  Cotton,  46. 

Mather,  Rev.  Increase,  45. 

Mathers,  the,  20,  82. 

Mather’s  “ Psalterium  Americanum,” 

59- 

May  family,  151. 


197 

May,  Col.  Joseph,  73,  129,  175,  176; 
monument  of,  127 ; gift  of,  65. 

May,  Rev.  Joseph,  73,  127 ; letter 
from,  160. 

May,  Rev.  Samuel  Joseph,  151. 

Mayor  of  Boston,  73. 

Meeting-house,  use  of,  to  preach  in, 
denied,  29. 

Memorial  Hall  of  Harvard  College, 
29. 

Memorial  volume  authorized,  5. 

Minister  of  King’s  Chapel,  communi- 
cation from,  3. 

Ministers  of  King’s  Chapel,  roll  of, 
64. 

Ministers,  the  five  Boston,  confront- 
ing Andros,  45. 

Minns,  Thomas,  6,  53. 

Minot,  George  R.,  6,  53. 

Minot,  Hon.  George  Richards,  177. 

Minot,  George  R.,  Mrs.,  62;  portrait 
belonging  to  family  of,  71. 

Minot,  William,  55;  address  of  wel- 
come, 75  ; introductions  by,  80,  88, 
95- 

Minot,  William,  tribute  to,  129,  136. 

Monument  to  commemorate  the  oc- 
casion of  the  Two  Hundredth 
Anniversary  of  King’s  Chapel,  5. 

Moody,  Rev.  Joshua,  46. 

Morison,  John  Hopkins,  D.D.,  60 ; 
address  of,  122. 

Motley,  the  family  of,  151. 

Mountfort  family,  arms  of  the,  62. 

Music,  arrangement  of,  74. 

Myles,  Rev.  Samuel,  64,  84,  173,  179. 

Nantasket,  26. 

Nelson,  John,  87,  147,  173. 

Newbury,  the  Second  Church  in,  59. 

New  England,  His  Majesty’s  territory 
and  dominion  of,  54. 

New  England  Historical  Genealogi- 
cal Society,  the  president  of,  147. 

New  England,  polity  of,  13,  22,  23. 

New  Jerusalem  Church,  First,  loan 
of  communion  silver  to,  161. 

New  North  Church  in  Boston,  com- 
munion plate  of  the,  65. 

New  South  Church,  the,  103. 


1 98 


INDEX. 


Newton,  Thomas,  173. 

Nicholson,  Sir  Francis,  173;  arms  of, 
62,  71. 

Northampton,  104,  106. 

North,  Rev.  F.  Mason,  letter  from, 

160. 

Nowell,  Mr.  Samuel,  prayer  of,  27. 

O’Brien,  Mayor,  letter  from,  145. 
Old  Church,  the,  30. 

Old  South  Church,  20. 

Old  South  Church,  expiation  to,  86. 
Old  South  Church,  minister  of,  5,  59, 
74- 

Oliver,  Ebenezer,  177;  gift  of,  65. 
Oliver,  the  family  of,  129. 

Orthodox  bodies,  modification  of 
thought  in,  185. 

Osgood,  Samuel,  D.D.,  gift  of,  65. 

Paddock,  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  H., 
D.D.,  letter  from,  154. 

Paige,  Captain,  26. 

Paige,  James  William,  gift  of,  65. 
Parker,  George  J.,  66. 

Parks,  Rev.  Leighton,  letter  from, 

161. 

Paxton,  Charles,  175. 

Peabody,  Andrew  Preston,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  5,61,  74;  introduction  of, 
133  ; address  of,  134. 

Peabody,  Ephraim,  D.D.,  64,  73, 
74,  87 ; commemorated  in  address 
of  Dr.  Morison,  122;  described, 
129;  tributes  to,  122,  129,  147,  159, 

162. 

Peabody,  Prof.  Francis  Greenwood, 
4,  61,  76,  79;  introduction  of,  134; 
address  of,  138. 

Peabody,  Robert  S.,  services  of,  72. 
Pemberton  Square,  31. 

Pepperell,  Sir  William,  85. 

Perkins,  William,  3,  5,  53,  64. 

Peter,  Rev.  Hugh,  36. 

Pickering,  Edward,  tribute  to,  137. 
Piedmont,  massacre  in,  28. 

Places  of  worship  of  King’s  Chapel, 
63- 

Playford’s  “ Whole  Book  of  Psalms,” 
57- 


Plummer  Professor  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, the,  61,  138;  Emeritus  in 
Harvard  University,  the,  61,  133, 
134- 

Portraits,  flags,  and  arms  employed 
in  the  decoration,  62. 

Portraits  employed  in  the  decoration, 
list  of,  70. 

Port  Royal,  triumph  of,  81. 

Pownall,  Gov.  Thomas,  63 ; arms  of, 
62 ; portrait  of,  70. 

Pratt,  artist,  70. 

Pratt,  the  family  of,  151. 

Prayer-meetings  in  King’s  Chapel, 
early  morning,  156. 

“ Prayers  of  ye  Church,”  83. 

President  of  Harvard  College,  4. 

Price,  Rev.  Commissary  Roger,  64* 
84,  174,  179;  arms  of,  62;  lays 
corner-stone  of  Trinity  Church, 
1 12;  inaugurates  services  of  Trin- 
ity Church,  1 1 2. 

Price,  William,  175. 

Prison  Lane,  30. 

Proposed  book  of  Common  Prayer, 
102. 

Proprietors  of  King’s  Chapel,  annual 
meeting  of,  3. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  the, 
51,  74,  102. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Diocese  of 
Massachusetts,  Right  Reverend 
Bishop  of,  hi. 

Province  House,  the,  62. 

Psalms  read  in  the  Commemoration 
Services,  55,  57,  76. 

Psalm,  the  eighty-fourth,  Version  of, 
sung,  57  ; twenty-third,  Version  of, 
sung,  59. 

Puritans,  the  English,  22. 

Puritans,  the,  to  be  held  in  honor, 
14. 

Putnam,  Alfred  P.,  D.D.,  letter  from, 
163. 

Pynchon,  Major,  27,  29. 

Quaker,  the,  20,  21. 

Quebec,  triumph  of,  81. 

Queen’s  Chapel,  the,  63. 

Quincy  granite,  first  quarrying  of,  84. 


INDEX. 


199 


Randolph,  Edward,  27,  29,  39,  40, 
42,  43,  97,  173. 

Randolph,  Edward,  quoted,  21,  24, 
25,  26,  40,  44. 

Randolph,  Mrs.,  curtesy  in  prayer- 
time, 24. 

Ratcliffe,  Rev.  Robert,  25,  26,  28,  29, 
3°>  36>  37.  39,  48,  64,  82,  173;  au- 
tograph of,  63. 

Read,  Hon.  John,  174. 

Reed,  Rev.  James,  letter  from,  161. 

Record  Book,  first  page  of  the 
earliest,  54. 

Remick,  H.  T.,  66. 

Revere,  John,  3,  64. 

Revolution,  the,  86,  101. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  132. 

Rhode  Island,  a safety-valve,  20. 

Richardson,  Hon.  George  C.,  64. 

“ Robison,  Esq.,”  40. 

Robins,  Edward  B.,  66. 

Robinson,  Gov.  George  Dexter, 
LL.D.,  58;  address  of,  89. 

Roe,  Rev.  Stephen,  64. 

Roland,  the  stone,  in  Bremen,  35, 
36. 

Roman  Catholic  King,  the  represen- 
tative of,  42. 

“ Rose  ” frigate,  the,  26. 

Roxbury,  31. 

Royal  Arms  from  Old  Province 
House,  62,  72. 

Royall,  the  family  of,  174. 

Sacrament,  the  first,  12,  40,  83. 

Salem,  36. 

Sampson,  Charles  E.,  6,  53. 

Sancroft,  William,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  44. 

Santa  Cruz,  104. 

Savory  and  Son,  decorators,  72. 

Scripture  lesson  read  in  Commemo- 
ration Services,  76. 

Sears,  Philip  H.,  64. 

Sears,  Richard,  66. 

Second  Church,  the,  20,  82. 

Seven  Star  Lane,  31. 

Sewall,  Capt.  Samuel,  house  of, 

3*- 

Sewall,  Rev.  Joseph,  98. 


Sewall,  Judge,  diary  of,  quoted,  26, 
27,  29,  31,  38,  40,  42,  43.  46,  47,  97  ; 
his  watchfulness  over  backsliders, 
100. 

Sherlock,  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, 178. 

Shirley,  Mrs.  Frances,  133. 

Shirley,  Gov.  William,  63,  85,  174, 
177  ; arms  of,  62  ; portrait  of,  71. 

Shirley,  Lieut  -General  William,  86. 

Shute,  Gov.  Samuel,  63  ; arms  of,  62. 

Smith,  Captain,  27. 

“ Smith,  Mr.,  the  joyner,”  38. 

Smith,  Franklin,  151. 

Soldier’s  Monument  referred  to,  88, 
132. 

Southack,  Cyprian,  173. 

Southampton,  the  Great  Emigration 
sails  from,  35. 

South  Meeting-house,  50,  86;  appro- 
priation of,  46,  83,  100,  106;  dese- 
cration of,  1 01,  106. 

Smybert,  artist,  70,  84. 

Sprat,  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
44. 

Stanwood,  Lemuel,  66. 

State  House,  portrait  loaned  from,  70. 

Stevenson,  Hon.  Joshua  Thomas, 
tribute  to,  137. 

Stevenson,  Robert  H.,  64. 

Storers,  the  family  of,  129. 

Stoughton,  Lieut.-Gov. W illiam,27, 29. 

“St.  Lawrence,”  disaster  of  the,  81. 

St.  Martyn’s,  tune,  18. 

St.  Mary,  tune,  18. 

St.  Paul’s  day.  47. 

St.  Thomas,  hymn  sung  to  tune  of, 
95- 

Stuart,  James,  King,  81. 

Subscription  to  build  the  first  King’s 
Chapel,  42. 

Sullivan,  Rev.  Thomas  Russell,  151. 

Sullivan,  Arthur  S.,  anthem  by,  sung, 
61. 

Sullivan,  Hon.  William,  LL.D.,  128, 
1 51 ; tribute  to,  150. 

Summer  Street,  31. 

Sumner,  Hon.  Charles,  LL.D.,  funeral 
of,  157. 

Swett,  Col.  Samuel,  153. 


200 


INDEX, 


Tallis’s  Evening  Hymn,  hymn  sung 
to  tune  of,  60,  127. 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  Bishop  of  Down  and 
Connor,  124,  178. 

Taylor,  N.  H.,  Mayor’s  Secretary, 
letter  from,  145. 

Templeman,  John,  175. 

Thayer,  Thatcher,  D.D.,  4,  74;  letter 
from,  153. 

Thayer,  Rev.  Geo.  A.,  letter  from,  162. 

Third  Church,  20,  31,  82. 

Thomas,  William,  135,  151. 

Tillotson,  John,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 178. 

Tours,  B.,  Magnificat  in  F.  sung,  60. 

Town  House,  the  old,  of  Boston, 
26,  30,  63 ; east  end  of,  granted 
for  public  worship,  29 ; worship  in, 
by  countenance  of  authority,  32 ; 
library-room  in,  38,  39. 

Trecothick,  Barlow,  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  175. 

Trinity  Church,  63,  85;  the  rector 
of,  60,  74 ; introduction  of  rector 
of,  hi  ; corner-stone  laid,  112. 

Troutbeck,  Rev.  John,  64,  85. 

Truman,  Edward,  artist,  70. 

Tufts,  John  W.,  66,  74. 

Tufts,  Rev.  John,  59. 

Turnbull,  Charles  D.,  66. 

Two  hundredth  year  of  church  life, 
plan  for  commemoration  of,  4. 

Tyng,  Gen.  Edward,  29. 

Unitarian  movement  in  America, 
King’s  Chapel’s  part  in,  158. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  house  of,  31. 

Vassall  monument,  132,  133. 

Vassall,  the  family  of,  174. 

Vincent,  Ambrose,  175. 

Vinton,  Alex.  H.,  D.D.,  sermon  at 
consecration  of  Trinity  Church, 
quoted,  177. 

Walker,  James,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  128  ; 
cup  and  salver  of,  65. 

Want,  George  W.,  66. 

Wardens  and  vestry  of  King’s 
Chapel,  action  of,  3 ; list  of,  64. 


Ware,  Rev.  Loammi  G.,  letter  from, 
161. 

Warren,  Gen.  Joseph,  63,  86,  87. 

Warren,  Sir  Peter,  85. 

Washington,  George,  177. 

Waterston,  Rev.  Robert  C.,  letter 
from,  162. 

Webster,  Hon.  Daniel,  LL.D.,  177. 

Wedding-ring,  first  used  in  marriage 
ceremony  in  New  England,  28. 

Wesley,  Rev.  Charles,  179. 

West,  Benjamin,  artist,  85. 

West,  Governor,  27. 

Wharton,  Mr.,  27,  29. 

Wheelwright,  Arthur  W.,  66. 

Wheelwright,  John  W.,  64. 

White,  Rt.  Rev.  William,  D.D.,  102. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  179. 

Whiting,  Miss  Harriet  A.,  66. 

Whitney,  Ellerton  P.,  66. 

Wilder,  Col.  Marshall  P.,  letter  from, 
147. 

Willard,  Rev.  Joseph,  26,  46,  82. 

William  and  Mary,  charter  of,  45; 
King  and  Queen,  give  communion 
plate,  65. 

William  III.,  King,  178. 

Williams,  Rev.  Theodore  C.,  letter 
from,  163. 

Williams,  Rev.  Roger,  36;  quoted, 
16,  20. 

Wilson,  Rev.  John,  19,  82. 

Wilson,  W.  Power,  66. 

Winchester,  tune,  57,  79. 

Windsor,  tune,  18. 

Winthrop,  Captain  Wait,  27. 

Winthrop,  Gov.  Fitz  John,  29. 

Winthrop,  Gov.  John,  19. 

Winthrop,  Hon.  Robert  C.,  LL  D., 
D.C.L.,  letter  from,  146. 

Winthrop,  Major-Gen.  Wait,  29. 

Wolcott,  Roger,  6,  53,  64,  73. 

Woman’s  Rights,  the  earliest  repre- 
sentative of,  20. 

Worshipful  church,  influence  of  a, 
140. 

Wright,  Rev.  William  Burnet,  letter 
from,  163. 


York,  tune,  18,  59,  108. 


FEB  7 


6A61  e 


73.62 

.K5 

37 


Bapst  Library 

Boston  College 
Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.  02167 


BOSTON. 


